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Alan Joyce is to step down as Qantas chief executive early as the Australian airline tries to rebuild after a series of scandals including selling tickets for thousands of canceled flights.
Joyce, who led Qantas for 15 years, is looking to exit on a high note after the Flying Kangaroo posted a record annual profit last month. He laid out plans to overhaul its fleet with funds freed up from cost savings, which created a stronger balance sheet.
However, he brought forward his retirement plans by two months following a series of controversies that damaged the airline’s reputation.
In a statement, Joyce said he would hand over control to his successor, Vanessa Hudson, on Wednesday, adding that recent events showed that “renewal” was the company’s top priority. “In this situation, the best thing I can do is retire early,” he said.
Australia’s consumer watchdog sued the airline last week, accusing it of selling tickets for 8,000 canceled flights and failing to notify passengers on 10,000 rescheduled flights until the last minute.
If convicted, the airline could face fines of up to hundreds of millions of dollars.
Qantas also had to reverse plans to cancel more than A$500 million (US$321 million) of customer points related to grounded flights during Covid-19 after facing lawsuits over the move.
Joyce told the Senate inquiry that he had written to the government arguing that allowing rival Qatar Airways to land more planes in Australia would distort the market at a time when the industry is recovering and the airline is also embroiled in a political scandal. From Covid-19.
This has led other airlines and travel agencies to accuse the government of protecting the national carrier. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanez this week denied the Qantas chief executive had lobbied him over Qatar.
Qantas is under pressure from shareholder groups and unions to reduce bonuses and share awards for Mr Joyce, who sold A$17 million worth of shares in June. Last week, he received almost $11 million in shares under the company’s bonus scheme.
That drew the ire of investors, including pension funds. Rachel Waterhouse, chief executive of the Australian Shareholders Association, which represents retail investors, said the company’s board, led by chairman Richard Goyder, had been forced to resign in light of the legal action that damaged the company’s reputation. Under pressure to reduce bonuses for Joyce and other top executives. .
Transport Workers Union national secretary Michael Keane, who feuded with Joyce during his long tenure, said Joyce’s bonus should be scrapped. “This was typical of Joyce: pretending to take responsibility while pocketing huge sums of money,” he said in a statement.
A Qantas spokesman would not comment on whether Joyce’s pay would come under scrutiny. The company will announce details about the bonus at the end of this month.
Joyce, who started his career at Aer Lingus before moving to Australia at the turn of the century, is one of the country’s best-known business executives for overhauling the airline’s balance sheet, cutting costs during 2017 And has been praised by investors for avoiding airline collapse. Pandemic.
However, his views have polarized as the airline’s reputation for excellent customer service has soured. Last year, the word “Joyced” entered the Australian lexicon to describe the situation of being stranded at an airport.
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