How Qantas fell to earth
It was one of the most jarring emails in recent Australian corporate history. Less than two weeks after delivering a $2.47 billion profit, 1.5 times as big as ever posted before, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce was telling staff he was bowing out.
“Yesterday we said that the company’s reputation had been hit hard on a number of fronts, that we understood why, and that we are committed to fixing it. I have no doubt that Qantas will rebound,” he wrote in an email sent to staff on Wednesday.
Hospital pass handover: CEO designate Vanessa Hudson has landed in the hot seat after Alan Joyce’s abrupt departure. Bloomberg
Eventually, the relationship with customers that had been stretching thin for years proved too weak even for a chief executive who his chairman had fully backed, in the face of an ACCC legal action alleging Qantas had engaged in unprecedented deceptive and misleading conduct.
Shareholders, until the ACCC action, had also backed in behind Joyce.
Day after day of front page stories and television reports – a negative focus the likes of which Qantas had never seen in its 100-plus-year history – eventually took their toll.
“My $20,000 Qantas hell.” “Public enemy No.1.” “The Lying Kangaroo.” And, when he finally pulled the ripcord: “Re-Joyce”.
The ignominious end for Joyce is not the end of this story, which has become a political conflagration that has the governingLabor Party on the back foot.
His successor, Vanessa Hudson, will have to resurrect a trashed brand and deal with the $570 million in outstanding travel credits upsetting so many once-loyal flyers. This, and allegations Qantas deceived customers by selling flights that had already been cancelled, mean she will also face ongoing regulatory scrutiny that threatens
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