LONDON, 27 September 2005 — British Airways Plc said yesterday its finance chief had quit to join Dutch retailer Ahold, but Europe’s third-biggest airline headed off talk of a change in strategy by appointing an insider as successor. BA said 49-year-old Keith Williams was replacing Chief Financial Officer John Rishton from Jan. 1, when Rishton takes up a similar post at Ahold, the world’s fourth-largest food retailer by sales. Williams joined BA as head of taxation in 1998 and three year later became group treasurer to start work on what became Europe’s boldest airline shake-up after Sept. 11, 2001.