By Gareth Hutchens and Kate Ainsworth for ABC
Photo: AFP / Peter Parks
Alan Joyce will leave Qantas on Wednesday after a tumultuous week for the airline.
Qantas announced his early departure saying Joyce would bring forward his retirement by two months to help the company "accelerate its renewal".
"In the last few weeks, the focus on Qantas and events of the past make it clear to me that the company needs to move ahead with its renewal as a priority," Joyce said in a statement.
"The best thing I can do under these circumstances is to bring forward my retirement and hand over to Vanessa and the new management team now, knowing they will do an excellent job."
The news of Joyce's abrupt departure comes less that 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.
The airline's current chief financial officer, Vanessa Hudson, will assume the role of managing director and group chief executive effective 6 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 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.
Qantas needs to restore the public's confidence, chair says
Joyce said there was a lot of he was "proud" of over his 22 years at Qantas, including the past 15 years as chief executive.
There have been many ups and downs, and there is clearly much work still to be done, especially to make sure we always deliver for our customers," he said.
"But I leave knowing that the company is fundamentally strong and has a bright future."
Qantas chairman Richard Goyder thanked Joyce for his service, saying his decision to bring forward his retirement showed he was putting the company first.
He said Qantas now faced the task of winning back the public's confidence.
"This transition comes at what is obviously a challenging time for Qantas and its people," he said.
"We have an important job to do in restoring the public's confidence in the kind of company we are, and that's what the board is focused on, and what the management under Vanessa's leadership will do."
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 Qantas' reputation "has 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."
Unions demand Joyce be stripped of bonuses
The national secretary of the Transport Workers Union, Michael Kaine, said the news of Joyce's departure from Qantas was "the first good decision the Qantas board has made for a very long time".
Kaine said Joyce needs to have his millions of dollars worth of bonuses stripped "immediately".
"Alan Joyce is slipping into retirement two months early with a $24 million pay packet, leaving one of the biggest messes in corporate Australia's history in his wake," he said.
"After finally receiving the public scrutiny he deserves for trashing one of Australia's most cherished companies, Alan Joyce is exiting with a $10 million bonus, announced on Friday.
"He must be stripped of those bonuses immediately."
Had Joyce stayed as Qantas chief executive until November, he would have accumulated about $125 million during his time in the job.
It is unclear what will happen with his entitlements now he has stepped down.
Kaine said that in the wake of Qantas' record pre-tax profit of $2.5 billion last month, on top of $2.7 billion worth of taxpayer funding the airline received during the pandemic, and past actions of grounding of the fleet and illegal outsourcing of jobs, the company needed to refocus and chart a new path forward.
"The question now should turn to whether the board should spill their positions following years of decimated jobs and standards, illegal outsourcing, and outrageous bonuses," he said.
"The new regime must embark on a total reset. Qantas needs to bring back good, secure jobs and quality standards."
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.
"Whilst we welcome Alan Joyce's exit, what really needs to go is the culture of profit over people," ACTU president Michele O'Neil said.
"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."
Mounting problems for the airline
In the past fortnight, Qantas has been involved in a number of controversies.
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.
"These credits and vouchers will never expire," he said in a video statement. "We're doing this because we've listened."
That same morning, Australia's competition regulator accused Qantas of engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct by allegedly advertising and selling tickets to flights that the airline had already cancelled.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) launched its legal action in the Federal Court of Australia on Thursday, 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 sold tickets for those flights on its website for an average of more than two weeks after the cancellations, and in some cases for more than a month.
Qantas customers have 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.
Last month, Joyce again ruled out paying back $2.7 billion 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.
- This story was first published by the ABC