Irishman Alan Joyce to step down as CEO of Australian airline Qantas after 15 years in charge

Qantas’s chief financial officer, Vanessa Hudson, will take over as the airline’s chief executive in November, making her the first woman to run Australia’s national carrier.

Ms Hudson’s promotion was announced on Tuesday morning, putting an end to years of speculation as to who would succeed longtime head Alan Joyce.

In a press conference on Tuesday, Ms Hudson faced questions about repairing Qantas’ reputation after a recent drop in service, and said she was planning on “developing a constructive relationship” with unions that Qantas has traditionally sparred with.

The airline’s chair, Richard Goyder, said the appointment allowed for a “smooth transition”.

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[ Qantas returns to profit but warns on lower fares ]

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“Vanessa has a deep understanding of this business after almost three decades in a range of roles both onshore and offshore, across commercial, customer and finance. She has a huge amount of airline experience and she’s an outstanding leader,” Mr Goyder said.

Shares in Qantas fell more than 2 per cent in early morning trading after the appointment announcement, in a sign of uncertainty from investors.

Ms Hudson will continue in her role as chief financial officer of Qantas Group – which also includes budget carrier Jetstar – until the company’s annual general meeting in November, when she will assume her new position.

Ms Hudson was viewed as one of the favourites to take over from Mr Joyce, who has led Qantas since 2008. Chief executive of Qantas Loyalty, Olivia Wirth, was the other frontrunner.

“A lot of thought has gone into this succession and the board had a number of high-quality candidates to consider, both internally and externally,” Mr Goyder said.

In a slip of the tongue at the end of Tuesday announcement, Goyder, when explaining the choice between Ms Hudson and Ms Wirth, accidentally told reporters “the board firmly feels that Olivia is the right person to take Qantas forward”.

Mr Hudson said: “It’s an absolute honour to be asked to lead the national carrier.

“This is an exceptional company full of incredibly talented people and it’s very well positioned for the future,” she said.

“My focus will be delivering for those we rely on and who rely on us – our customers, our employees, our shareholders and the communities we serve.”

Hudson is the airline’s 13th chief executive in its 103-year history.

Mr Joyce’s 15-year term as one of Australia’s best-paid chief executives has been punctuated by controversies, including when he grounded Qantas’ entire fleet in 2011 amid an industrial dispute; the outsourcing of 1,700 ground handling jobs that was later ruled illegal and which is being challenged at the high court; and more recently, a post-pandemic deterioration in service quality and soaring airfares as the airline posted a record mid-year profit.

Mr Joyce said on Tuesday that while it was the right time to go, his exit from the company was “certainly going to be a bittersweet moment”.

“I agreed to stay here for this length of time to help the company get through that terrible crisis and make sure that it’s strong coming out,” he said, referring to the turmoil caused by the pandemic.

Asked about how she would differ from Mr Joyce, Ms Hudson spoke of repairing the combative relationship between Qantas and various unions that Joyce had overseen.

“I’m also looking forward to meeting unions and union leaders and I look forward to developing a constructive relationship with them for the benefit of our people, but also for the benefit of our organisation,” she said.

In a sign of the tense relationship with unions, Mr Joyce, when answering a question on a different topic minutes later, took a parting shot at the union movement.

“Every other airline in the globe has got similar problems over the last year, but operational performance, customer delivery, the thing that makes Qantas special is its people, and there’s a difference between our people and the unions, sometimes people forget that our people are highly engaged,” Mr Joyce said.

The Labour senator Tony Sheldon, a regular critic of Joyce, said the outgoing chief executive should stand down immediately.

“Alan Joyce has left a massive task for the next CEO, who must restore the spirit of Australia to Qantas and end Alan Joyce’s ideological war on its loyal workforce and frustrated customers,” Mr Sheldon said.