Willie Walsh, BA’s ex-chief executive, said he had no regrets about making drastic cuts at the airline, which earned him the nickname Slasher Walsh.

Walsh, now chief executive of Iata, told The Telegraph: “British Airways is in business today because of the measures that were taken to secure its financial performance.” He said there was nothing he would have done differently despite accusations service levels had dropped.

However, Walsh admitted Virgin Atlantic was now attracting many BA staff to switch allegiances.

Walsh has been a fierce critic of Heathrow, arguing it should have reinstated more staff to avoid the queues and capacity restrictions seen this summer.

He said “heads should definitely roll” if there were similar problems next year.

“Whatever defence they have, that they were caught out by the pace of the recovery – which I don’t accept – they don’t have that defence any more."

He personally criticised Heathrow boss John Holland-Kaye, who claimed problems at the airport this summer were the responsibility of airlines. Walsh said: “It clearly wasn’t. The problem was the airport.”