Apologetic former CEO tells his side of the Qantas story
It’s worse than the global financial crisis. It’s worse than the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. It’s a shock to the industry that could cost the company 10,000 jobs.
In 2020, these predictions about the damage COVID-19 would inflict on the aviation industry were ringing out from the Qantas board and CEO Alan Joyce when the “Flying Kangaroo” announced it would lay off 1,820 ground crew. The Supreme Court later ruled that the workers had been fired illegally and many are still waiting for compensation.
Only now, six years later and three years after stepping down as CEO of Qantas, has Joyce expressed regret. His acceptance comes with caveats.
If someone had told him in August 2020 that “… there would be a vaccine on the other side, the vaccine would be effective, and there would be a huge rebound in demand when the vaccine would work, you would definitely make different decisions,” Joyce says.
“With the information we had at the time, I still don’t think there was any other decision you could have made,” he told this masthead during a video call from his home in Sydney.
“Looking back is a wonderful thing.”
Speaking ahead of the launch of his book Alan Joyce: Riding the Jet StreamJoyce said this week that despite his regrets, he could not explain the ongoing post-lockdown resentment among the public.
‘I was the proverbial frog in hot water and I didn’t know how hot the water got.’
Alan Joyce
That’s perhaps unsurprising for a man not exactly known for his contrition during his nearly 15-year tenure in the cockpit of Australia’s national airline. In moments of organizational chaos, political controversy and the “ghost flight” scandal, he was less inclined to apologize. Even now, the bottom line on Joyce’s mind was the company’s summary: Qantas survived Covid intact and its shareholders didn’t lose a penny.
Keeping an airline afloat is not an academic job for Joyce, who spent the first part of his career at Ansett Australia. He had a front row seat to the collapse of Ansett, having been head of network planning when he left the company in 2000. The company collapsed in 2001.
“I’m actually very, very proud that I didn’t sit here and apologize for the collapse of Qantas. [something] “A lot of airlines around the world did this,” Joyce says, pointing to the dozens of airlines around the world that went bankrupt, were forced to merge or went into administration during this period. This number includes Virgin Australia in 2020.
“I think if I were sitting here apologizing for the collapse of Qantas we would be causing more problems, more anxiety.”
Qantas posted a loss of $1.8 billion before tax in 2021 and 2022 as Covid-19 brought the business to a halt; but it decisively reached profits of $2.4 billion in 2023 as public anger grew over rising ticket prices and abysmal service results. Joyce resigned two months early in September 2023.
Credit when due
Public anger has grown further in the wake of the so-called “ghost flight” scandal, in which the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission fined Qantas $120 million for selling tickets for 8000 flights that had already been cancelled.
During COVID, Qantas was seen accumulating up to $1.6 billion in COVID travel credits that customers could not use due to mass flight cancellations triggered by border closures. The company did not clearly inform customers that they were entitled to a refund.
Under pressure, Qantas has repeatedly extended refund deadlines. A $105 million settlement was also reached following a class-action lawsuit against Qantas over COVID-19 flight credits.
Joyce notes that rival Virgin pocketed about $93 million because its loans expired. A Virgin spokesperson said: “More than 90 per cent of COVID credits have been redeemed by guests.” Qantas has since removed all expiry dates and the outstanding amount remains on the balance sheet. Loans held by Qantas were worth $240 million as of December 31, 2025.
“I apologize for the anger caused [for] customers were included in this, but the truth was we had 22 million reservations in the system [and] “The system is not designed to provide automatic refunds,” he said.
Responses to many of Joyce’s or the airline’s most notable public controversies follow the familiar formula: “I’m sorry, but . . .
“We were trying to fix things on the fly, but it got a lot better as we went along… We finally got there and probably had the best policy of any airline out there,” he says.
‘It’s part of the job’
Few people in corporate Australia have faced the scrutiny or public pressure that Joyce did, especially in the final stages of his tenure. At Qantas, he says, they joke about the “Himalayans of brand journalism”, referring to the steep ups and downs of consumer sentiment.
Joyce faced the white-hot anger of airline customers during his time at the helm. In 2024, journalist Joe Aston’s bestselling book investigating the company’s dealings with politicians came to public attention. Some singled him out for the airline’s stance on social issues.
Joyce, now happily married to long-term partner Shane Lloyd, was criticized for supporting the organisation’s “Yes” campaign for marriage equality in 2017. Two-thirds of Australians voted to support the campaign, but that didn’t stop a protester smashing a pie into Joyce’s face as she spoke on stage at an event in Perth. Senior Coalition politician Peter Dutton singled out Joyce when he criticized a group of CEOs who had signed a letter supporting the campaign.
That aside, Joyce doesn’t see herself as a victim or guilty of post-lockdown resentment.
He accepts the extreme criticism he is subjected to from time to time because “it is part of his job.” He also bemoans what he describes as an unwillingness by company leaders to advocate on political and social issues, as Qantas did when it supported the unsuccessful Indigenous Voice referendum campaign in parliament in 2017 and 2023.
“I think there are a lot fewer people doing this, and I think it’s a shame because I think companies are part of society,” he says.
On whether wider social discontent in the post-COVID years has played a role in the criticism, he said: “I can’t really answer that because I certainly don’t have any post-lockdown resentment.”
“Maybe some people in society do that, but I certainly don’t.”
From Aston’s book, Presidential HallJoyce denied Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s claim that he promoted his son to the hall, an invitation-only club usually reserved for politicians and business leaders.
The book also alleged that Joyce arranged flight upgrades for the prime minister and senior politicians. Others in the company have the ability to arrange upgrades, he said.
“I don’t remember him ever calling me to ask for an upgrade. I had to find my PA to do it on a computer… I called him when the claim came up,” he says. “He said he had no memory of doing this for me. Every time I did an upgrade, I signed a document. I think the documents were checked and there was no document for me to sign.”
exit hall
As a result, Joyce’s legacy resonates more in the aviation industry than in the public sphere or political circles.
When Joyce stepped down as CEO, confidence in the Qantas brand had waned and her replacement, Joyce’s chief financial officer, Vanessa Hudson, is seeking to rebuild the brand.
Other parts of the handover were brighter. Budget subsidiary Jetstar, of which Joyce was founding CEO, remains profitable and has announced a number of new routes despite rising fuel costs. Project Sunrise, Joyce’s project to seamlessly connect Sydney to London, appears on track for first flights starting next year, with a specially adapted Airbus A350 visiting Melbourne last week.
Joyce, who is also chairman of the board of directors of Oneworld as well as the board of directors of the International Air Transport Association, continues to be a respected voice in global aviation internationally.
He realized the full extent of the high-pressure situation he was in during his twilight months in office in his first year after leaving, as he relaxed after 15 years as CEO.
“I was the proverbial frog in hot water and I didn’t know how hot the water got,” he says.
She spent that year enjoying a quieter life with her husband, Shane, and returned to Ireland to care for her mother. Joyce was later persuaded to write the book, describing it as “a cathartic experience”.
uncertain future
When asked about the impact of the emerging conflict in the Middle East on global aviation, Joyce said the situation could go either way and executives are preparing for a wide range of scenarios, including a new ceasefire and a return to normal (in this case, oil prices falling and demand rising).
Or the conflict could expand to the point of closing not only the Persian Gulf but also the Red Sea. If so, that’s when you “get into really bad territory for airlines.”
Joyce, who studied physics and mathematics at the Dublin Institute of Technology and later Trinity College, said airlines would examine the likelihood of each scenario.
If conflict cripples oil shipments, “no matter how much you’re willing to pay, you just won’t get supply.” Joyce said this would be a situation similar to “COVID without a mask” and flights would be stopped again.
After reading Joyce’s book and listening to him talk at length about his career, there would be no doubt about his approach if he were still in charge of an airline struggling with challenges from the Middle East.
He would listen to the experts and take whatever action he felt was necessary to protect the company, no matter how drastic, no matter the personal cost.
And he wouldn’t apologize for it.
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