I have an article planned on the malaise at Qantas…the enigma that this airline represents within Australian borders and outside…but first some more breaking news: long-serving Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce will resign tomorrow…his retirement has been accelerated after a horrible week of scandal and blunders by the flag carrier.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce Resigns After Tumultuous Week
A number of scandals have rocked Qantas this week, including:
- revelations that it continued to sell tickets on more than 8,000 flights during the pandemic, even though they had already been canceled
- its influence in a government decision to artificially keep airfare high by blocking the requested expansion of Qatar Airways
- the Prime Minister’s son was granted Chairmans Club status, an invite-only top-tier status that carries with it great benefits and was seen as graft
Joyce faced grilling before lawmakers over these and other issues and made what was widely judged to be a poor showing. Taking the blow for these scandals, he will resign this week instead of in November 2023 as originally announced.
CEO designate Vanessa Hudson will assume the role of Managing Director and Group CEO effective 6 September 2023.
His accelerated departure marks an unfortunate end to 15 years as leader of the flag.
Addressing his departure, Joyce remarked that he had become a distraction:
“In the last few weeks, the focus on Qantas and events of the past make it clear to me that the company needs to move ahead with its renewal as a priority. The best thing I can do under these circumstances is to bring forward my retirement and hand over to Vanessa and the new management team now, knowing they will do an excellent job.
There is a lot I am proud of over my 22 years at Qantas, including the past 15 years as CEO. There have been many ups and downs, and there is clearly much work still to be done, especially to make sure we always deliver for our customers. But I leave knowing that the company is fundamentally strong and has a bright future.”
CONCLUSION
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has accelerated his departure and will exit his leadership role on September 6, 2023. This move comes after what comes after waves of scandal have hit the Australian flag carrier this week.
We will discuss some of these controversies in more detail in the days ahead.
How do you rate Joyce’s tenure at Qantas?
image: Qantas
Matt,
I realize this is a breaking story, but looks like it needs a few edits:
Third bullet point ends with “,,,with great benefits and was seen as the sort of”.
Also, there’s a single sentence paragraph that ends with “and unfortunate end to 15 years as leader of the flag.” Do you mean “…as leader of the flag carrier”?
I noticed the same thing. A little spell check would be advisable. Maybe you’re still suffering from jetlag from your extensively documented London trip?
You write this:
the Prime Minister’s son was granted Chairmans Club status, an invite-only top-tier status that carriers with great benefits and was seen as the sort of
Please finish the sentence/ thought.
He often struck me as smug and out of touch. The kind of person that clinked glasses of champagne as he steals from the Government, the taxpayer, and his customers. All to benefit his beloved stockholder cronies.
The efforts they made to block Qatar is astounding. Especially on a remote island nation that relies solely on air travel for its citizens to prosper, see family, and do business. The lobbying and insider work in the Albanese Government is despicable. His legacy will be one of stick it to the consumer and dance on their graves.
I do like their lounge food though!
There’s not much to see here. He’s retiring and if he can take the full blame and make some of this go away by leaving 2 months early then why not. Qantas is a business and, though the ethics are very poorly managed in these decisions, I can’t fault them for trying to run their business. Having said that it seems they’re better off without him
But he’s LGBTSGSJHFKSJ+_*&*^^&! What about representation?!
@Chi Hsuan – you’re pretending that double standards and hypocrisy aren’t alive and well!
No, he’s gay. And I’m not sure what your bizarre spray has to do with the story.
To be fair, this man basically handed Untied the US-Australia market on a golden platter, so we can’t be too upset! UA’s schedule to Australia this winter wouldn’t be possible without his contributions!
Good riddance to this loser CEO. He served 15 years too long. I’ve flown Qantas 3 times and never impressed with their service.
Ms Hudson gave Joyce an extensive eulogy last month. It’ll be interesting to see if she returns promptly the over $500 million Qantas has refused to reimburse for non existent flights.
Joyce has been a disgrace for a decade, profit way ahead of safety and customer service like one or two more in similar positions. Thank goodness he’s going and not a minute too soon.
Considering the way the Australian government behaved during covid, turning itself back into a prison colony, I expected some grift.
Australians are bizarrely loyal to Qantas. Nearly every credit card point goes straight their way despite how horrible the program is.
Blocking Qatar (this is not a recent thing – I believe they’ve flown to Canberra and Adelaide for a while as they weren’t allowed extra Sydney capacity) was taking money from Australians and giving it to shareholders. Ridiculous. Noting the deputy PM said that he was protecting the national carrier and then seemed to backtrack.
We bid farewell to Joyce as he drifts into the sunset with his golden parachute. Good riddance.
Yep, a $24M parachute. It’s sickening and corporate greed has truly reached a tipping point. I recently read a book that talks about revolutions through history, along with populist uprisings. Virtually every single one of them is threaded within a disparity of wealth in the population so great that it starts turning people against each other. Too much wealth, too much power in the hands of less than 1% is a sure road to dismantling current systems. All democracies in the world should be very worried. Meanwhile, Joyce will probably whisk off to another country, build a villa and laugh at it all while everyone picks up the pieces.
Qantas is on the nose big time in Australia with regards to their treatment of both staff and customers. That said, the odious Joyce did what he was meant to do, provide a shareholder return, it’s a pity he has trashed the brand though.
Joyce preferred tp shut down the carrier a few years ago rather than negotiate with his own employees, employees who are the airline. He then launched a deceptive and costly effort to outsource personnel across the system which brought the very unwanted attention of a major Australian broadcaster – think 60 minutes – which showed the blatant hypocrisy of the Joyce stewardship over the carrier. Joyce has a pugilistic style which can yield great bottom line results but sours staff from being willing to “go the extra mile” as evidenced by the catastrophic collapse of the airline’s customer service recently. The way-to-cozy relationship between Qantas and the government has stifled competition and innovation in the Aussie market and frankly smacks of corrupt practices