Facing a Cash Crunch, British Airways Looks to Sell Off Its Star-Studded Art Collection

Amid ongoing financial troubles, British Airways will sell off
at least ten items in its corporate art collection, which includes
works by big names like Bridget Riley and Peter Doig. Sotheby’s has
been called in to value a number of works held by BA for a
potential sale, according to the Evening Standard, which
first reported the
story.

The airline is known for its collection of at least 1,500 pieces
that includes esteemed works by artists such as Richard Deacon,
Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst, Gary Hume, Callum Innes, Anish Kapoor,
Chris Ofili, and Fiona Rae.

The Bridget Riley being sold off could be valued at “well
into seven figures,” an unnamed expert told by the paper. For
now, the painting remains in the airline’s executive lounge at
Heathrow airport. (The airline owns several works from Riley’s
“Egyptian” series,
though it was unclear which exact work was being considered for
sale.)

In the 2012 book Corporate Art
Collections, Angeline Mayhead, the airline’s
global head of lounge development, described the importance of the
collection to the BA brand: “The collection is managed and
curated by a passionate team… and we see it as an enduring and
sustainable way in which to make BA’s premium tongues feel
welcoming and inviting, authentic and vibrant.”

The art to be sold off will be sourced from both BA’s many
lounges and its corporate headquarters.

BA is trying to protect jobs and avoid laying off staff as it
faces a cash crunch in the wake of the worldwide lockdown. Industry
observers do not believe that the airline industry will return to
pre-crisis traffic numbers anytime in the near future.

According to Forbes, British Airways’s parent
company IAG reported a £1.5 billion ($1.8 billion) loss in the
first three months of the year. In April, the airline furloughed
30,000 staff, according to the Guardian, and
it was reported this month that the company is considering cutting
12,000 jobs, according to CNN.

The suggestion to sell off the art collection is said to have
come from staff ideas on how to minimize the toll of the necessary
cost-cutting. The Evening Standard reports that
BA may replace the artwork it sells off by securing
loans from galleries rather than buying art outright.

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