Outgoing CEO Alan Joyce to leave the airline tomorrow
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce is leaving the airline two months earlier than planned so the company can rebuild its ailing reputation. Mr Joyce’s abrupt departure comes less than a week after the competition regulator launched legal action against Qantas and as political heat grows over his relationship with governments.
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TVTranscript
00:00 After a week of heavy turbulence, Alan Joyce has been pushed out the door, retiring two
00:07 months earlier than planned. His successor, Vanessa Hudson, who's worked for the company
00:12 for 29 years, had this message for Qantas's 25,000 staff.
00:18 We know that post COVID we haven't always delivered to what our customers expect, but
00:23 we are listening and we hear what they are saying.
00:27 Liz Aitken is one of Qantas's many unhappy customers.
00:31 Please visit Qantas.com. We thank you for your patience.
00:35 She's been on hold for years, waiting for a refund for a flight her now deceased mother
00:40 had booked with Qantas in March 2020.
00:43 Pretty poor to be honest. Mum was always a great supporter of Qantas. She never really
00:50 flew Virgin.
00:51 Liz now refuses to fly Qantas.
00:54 They basically just ignored her for the whole process and then proceeded to ignore me as
00:58 well. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
01:03 Many others are disappointed.
01:05 It's pretty tough at the moment. It's frustrating. Client service isn't great. Prices are high.
01:11 Typical big companies, only they're thinking about their shareholders a lot of times.
01:17 Investors also want the airline to lift its game. They're calling on the company to withhold
01:22 millions of dollars of bonuses for its executives and some want the chairman sacked.
01:28 I would argue that Joyce out, Chairman Goida out.
01:33 Qantas has a big repair task ahead. It could face a multi-million dollar penalty after
01:39 the consumer watchdog, the ACCC, takes the company to court alleging it sold more than
01:45 8,000 flights that were already cancelled.
01:48 There's also political heat building over Qantas' special relationship with the government
01:53 that led to it blocking rival airline Qatar Airways from accessing routes that could have
01:58 driven prices down.
02:00 Now I'm not here to comment on decisions of the federal government when it comes to who
02:04 flies in and out of our country. But I will make this point. We've always wanted more
02:09 flights not less. Because more flights mean lower prices.
02:12 Ms Aitken is counting on a better experience. After ABC News contacted Qantas it said it
02:19 would refund her the full amount owed.
02:22 They should be paying attention to the people that make the money which is their customers.
02:26 It's a message that Qantas is just beginning to heed.
02:30 [BLANK_AUDIO]