Never allow a crisis to go to waste, said Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s Chief of Staff. And many British chief executives have heeded his advice, using the economic downturn to push through unpopular changes, squeezing costs and cutting jobs.

However, some admit privately that they have not taken full advantage yet and are concerned they may have left it a bit late.

Yesterday’s unemployment figures were very ugly. But they were not nearly as bad as economists were expecting a few months ago and the rate of increase is clearly slowing.

Take the case of British Airways. Week after week the staff newspaper BA News has been delivering doom-laden headlines about the airline’s financial difficulties.

And the message got through. Some 800 staff volunteered to work for nothing during July and 7,000 more took unpaid leave to help their employer.

Even Unite, the union that represents 28,000 BA employees, has been in conciliatory mood and offered a 2.6 per cent pay cut to protect jobs.

This has not been enough for BA’s management, however, and the company is pushing ahead with plans to reduce the cabin-crew headcount by 2,000. It also wants a wholesale revamp of crew contracts, allowing it to cut or axe allowances and time off on long-haul flights.

The problem for Willie Walsh, BA’s chief executive, is that it is now clear to his staff that the economy is recovering, and this has put the unions in a less generous mood. Bassa, which is part of Unite, told its cabin-crew members on Tuesday that they should “hold firm” because the “wind is behind us”.

Mr Walsh has taken too long to strike a deal with the unions and is in danger of missing the chance presented by the downturn.

It would be easy for Mr Walsh to start talking up BA’s future and the relief among investors would probably outweigh any lingering disappointment about his failure to tackle cabin-crew pay. In this respect, he would be no different from his predecessors.

Alternatively, Mr Walsh could press ahead with confrontation. Continued belligerence in the face of improved economic prospects would not be well received, at Heathrow or in the City. But it is probably necessary.

BA’s staff have accumulated perks and benefits that need to be restructured. The airline cannot allow itself to become a vehicle merely for paying benefits to present and past employees while its rivals continue to bear down on their costs.

Ducking the issue will only store up more problems for BA in the future.

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