BALPA is deeply saddened to announce the unexpected and untimely death of its Executive President, Paul Naylor, who died peacefully last night surrounded by his close family.

Paul was a Captain for easyJet based in Belfast, and had been flying commercially for 28 years, both with easyJet and Airtours. He became a BALPA representative in 2005, joining the easyJet Company Council shortly afterwards, later becoming Chair of the CC in 2012. Having joined the National Executive Committee of BALPA in 2011, in 2014 he concentrated his BALPA activities on the NEC, eventually becoming Vice Chair. He succeeded Brendan O’Neal as Interim Chair in 2019, was elected to the Chair later that year, and assumed the role of Executive President when the title was changed.

Outside of work and BALPA, Paul was an extremely keen rugby fan, a season ticket holder at Ulster Rugby and a vocal supporter of the Irish national side. He also had an interest in football, supporting Liverpool FC and owned a share in a light aircraft. When time permitted, he frequently travelled to Florida which became his home from home.

Paul was a quietly spoken man with a great sense of humour, decorum, and honour, occupying a sagacious and steadfast presence in the many formal and informal roles he undertook. He led BALPA through some of both the Association’s and the wider industry’s most difficult periods in recent memory where significant threats were made to the continuing viability of both. That both BALPA and the industry are still here today is, in part, owed to his leadership.

He leaves behind his beloved wife Sharon. All of us at BALPA, will miss him extraordinarily. We thank him profoundly for his years of selfless service to the members of BALPA; his passing leaves an extremely difficult hole to fill and he will be enormously missed.

In Memory: Captain Paul Naylor

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