‘Good riddance’: in the event of severe turbulence, please eject the CEO

The king is dead. Long live the queen. The 15-year reign of Alan Joyce as chief executive of Qantas has come to an abrupt end with his six-month farewell cut short by the failure of the very thing he leaned on during his regency: public relations and spin.

The recent announcement of a probe by the competition regulator into Qantas selling tickets to 8000 “ghost” flights it allegedly knew would be cancelled, off the back of a growing stench of protection around Qantas by the Albanese government, was an unmitigated — and unspinnable — PR disaster.

This was topped by the issue of $10.8 million in shares earned largely while taxpayers were propping up a loss-making company — and then underpinning its return to profit. Even Joyce’s old buddy Albanese turned on him at the end.

Joyce’s popularity at the airline, such as it was, rested largely on executive and white-collar workers. The company blue-collar staff — the pilots, flight attendants, engineers, ground staff and baggage handlers — all grew to loathe him as he outsourced and offshored their jobs and cut their pay and conditions time and time again. In this, he was enabled first by the former chairman, union-hating mining boss Leigh Clifford, and then his successor, the compliant Richard Goyder, and their respective boards.

“Under Alan Joyce, pilots have been totally outplayed, they have lost conditions and pay that they will never get back,” a recently retired pilot said.

“The back-of-an-envelope numbers are that when the legacy aircraft have been retired from Qantas (A330 and A380) in five to 10 years, the saving in wages to Qantas will be approximately $500 million on an annual basis that will go straight to the bottom line.  

“He is without a doubt the most reviled, divisive and hated CEO in the company’s history. This is best summed up by what is known by pilots as Operation Zero, whereby pilots aim to retire with zero sick leave remaining,” said the pilot. “Alan, you reap what you sow. Good riddance.” Today, for example, Qantas has dozens of pilots on regional routes that are paid under award wages.

A Qantas engineer reflecting the views of their colleagues said: “In the 15 years since Alan took the reins, Qantas engineering has been turned into a shadow of its former self.”

“Engineers, pilots, cabin crew, check-in staff and even the poorly treated baggage handlers all have blood in the game. All of these people would go above and beyond to make Qantas work. Alan wouldn’t know this, nor would he care. To see what Qantas has become under the tenure of Joyce, Goyder and Clifford makes us all cringe. This is not the airline we love, we know we are better than this. Given the tools and investment in the right places, we could once again return to the top.”

Meanwhile, it remains business as usual at what must now surely be the Limping Kangaroo. Down one 787 that has already caused cancellations, the company was forced to delay its flight from Vancouver yesterday by 10 hours, causing its Perth-Rome flight to be delayed even further.

Customers are also continuing to receive notes like this one, delivered at 8.51pm last night:

Due to operational requirements, changes to schedule are sometimes required by Qantas or partner airlines. Unfortunately, your flight QF437 to Melbourne at 11:00AM on 05Sep2023 has been cancelled. We’re looking at alternative flight options for you and we’ll send through your new flight details within 72 hours once we’ve rebooked you.

It’s unsurprising then, that customers, too, are thrilled with Joyce’s emergency exit. In a note this morning from a pilot in a private Qantas chat group said: “Just parked [the plane] … the pax [passengers] were cheering. Fucking awesome.”

Up until last week, Joyce has been a master at polishing a turd — often by rolling it in glitter. Now the glitter has well and truly come off.

The new boss, Vanessa Hudson — both Joyce and the board were insistent that the one-time Irish mathematician’s successor would be a woman — steps into the job tomorrow, two months earlier than expected. Boy, does she have some work to do.

Joyce’s last hurrah was to be a triumphant annual general meeting in November. But in the manner of a politician — almost every politician — Joyce hung on for too long. Indeed, the almost-certain corporate board positions that follow these sorts of CEO jobs in the Petrie dish of Australian business now look unlikely at best.

In one short year, Joyce has gone from the “best CEO in Australia by the length of a straight” to being put down for not finishing the race after breaking a leg in the final stretch.

Does Alan Joyce leave a legacy to be proud of? Let us know by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.