Alan Joyce, Chief Executive will leave Qantas on Wednesday after a tumultuous week for the airline.
His early departure was announced by Qantas saying Joyce would bring forward his retirement by two months to help the company “accelerate its renewal”.
The news of Joyce’s abrupt departure comes less than a week after the competition regulator launched legal action against Qantas for allegedly selling tickets to flights that had already been cancelled over a three-month period in 2022.
Qantas said it was taking those accusations seriously.
Vanessa Hudson, the airline’s current Chief Financial Officer, will assume the role of Managing Director and Group Chief Executive effective 6th September, and is the first female chief executive in the airline’s 103-year history.
She was scheduled to take over from Joyce in November after being appointed in May.
Joyce has spent 22 years at Qantas, including the past 15 years as the airline’s chief executive, and extended his tenure at the request of the Qantas board to assist with its recovery from the pandemic.
Richard Goyder, Qantas Chairman thanked Joyce for his service, saying his decision to bring forward his retirement showed he was putting the company first. He said Qantas needs to restore the public’s confidence.
He said, “This transition comes at what is obviously a challenging time for Qantas and its people.”
On Monday, Qantas’ board of directors issued a statement in response to the ACCC action, where they apologised for falling short of expectations after the pandemic.
The board also acknowledged that Qantas’ reputation had already been hit hard on several fronts and was taking the community’s frustration and disappointment seriously.
“We know that the only way to fix it is by delivering consistently,” the statement said.
“We know it will take time to repair. And we are absolutely determined to do that.”
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has also welcomed Joyce’s decision to leave the airline earlier than scheduled, and said Qantas has an opportunity to start fresh.
ACTU president Michele O’Neil said that whilst they welcomed Alan Joyce’s exit, what really needed to go was the culture of profit over people.
“Now is the opportunity for Qantas to restore its reputation as the nation’s flagship carrier by working with unions to pay workers the fair wages and conditions they deserve and restore customers’ faith in this airline,” he said
Mounting problems for the airline
Qantas has been involved in a number of controversies in the past fortnight.
On Monday last week, the airline admitted it had not disclosed the true value of its unredeemed flight credits, during a fiery Senate committee hearing in Melbourne.
Qantas had publicly said it had $370 million in outstanding flight credits on its books, but senators were told during the hearing that Jetstar had another $100 million in outstanding flight credits on its books, and Qantas’ international passengers had more flight credits owed to them too.
The airline’s executives also told senators that they’d set a deadline of 31 December for millions of dollars worth of outstanding flight credits to be claimed but after a public backlash, Qantas backtracked.
On Thursday, Joyce announced Qantas was removing the expiry dates on $570 million worth of Covid travel credits owed to Australian and international customers which were due to run out at the end of this year.
He said in a video statement that these credits and vouchers will never expire and that they were doing this because they have listened.
That same morning, Australia’s competition regulator accused Qantas of engaging in deceptive and misleading conduct by allegedly advertising and selling tickets to flights that the airline had already cancelled.
On Thursday the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) launched its legal action in the Federal Court of Australia, accusing Qantas of selling tickets for flights that were scheduled to depart between May and July 2022, but which had been cancelled, and that it had sold tickets for those flights on its website for an average of more than two weeks after the cancellations, and in certain cases for more than a month.
Qantas customers also launched a class action in relation to the airline’s flight credits. The regulator says affected customers may be able to seek remedies against Qantas as part of the class action.
Joyce again ruled out paying back $2.7 billion last month, in taxpayer handouts provided during the pandemic, including $855 million solely for the JobKeeper wage subsidy.
He told ABC’s 7.30 that the best way for Qantas to repay the money was by earning higher profits, therefore paying more corporate tax, and the airline would pay corporate tax again in the 2025 financial year.
