‘Made mistakes’: Former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce admits errors in the top job
Former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has opened up for the first time since leaving office, admitting he “got things wrong” during his tenure at the national carrier.
Mr Joyce left the senior job in September 2023 after five years at Jetstar and 15 years at Qantas.
He described his two-decade tenure as “dog years.”
“There are years when it’s the best job in the world, and there are years and periods when it’s the worst job in the world,” he told 60 Minutes’ Tracey Grimshaw.
“As a result, you know you have to be careful not to burn out, which you can only keep up for so long.”
It was Covid-19 that tested his leadership as international flights were grounded and staff were illegally dismissed.
In 2021, the Federal Court ruled that outsourcing baggage handling and cleaning was in breach of industry laws.
Earlier this year, the airline was ordered to pay $90 million for the illegal firing of 1,820 workers during the pandemic; this was the largest industrial relations fine in Australian corporate history.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission also sued the airline for misleading customers who had purchased tickets for flights canceled days or weeks earlier.
Mr Joyce said he had hoped to retire at 53 but his final years at the airline did not go as planned.
“I look back at where we were in ’19, Qantas was at the highest level, had the best customer service ranking ever,” he said.
“It was making record profits and I was thinking what a great way to sail off into the sunset.”
He said Covid-19 “hit us right in the face” and caused the airline to go into “survival mode”, making it the “scariest period” of his career.
“At one stage we had 11 weeks of cash left before going bankrupt,” he said.
“It was the scariest time in my entire career because you were making terrible decisions to keep the airlines afloat.”
Mr Joyce admitted the airline had made mistakes during the pandemic and that responsibility fell on him.
“I think we made mistakes and got some things wrong, and I would be the first to admit that,” he said.
“I think Qantas is surviving right now because we’re doing more things right than we’re doing wrong.
“I am aware and accept that when it comes to that point, responsibility for these matters will always rest with the CEO.”
Mr Joyce said the pandemic had created “chaos” for the airline as it dealt with grounded flights.
“We had over 400 thousand passengers that we were trying to host again through call centers, it was in chaos,” he said.
He said he took “ultimate responsibility” for the illegal dismissal of staff but said the airline was “in the middle of a crisis” and was trying to prevent it from going bankrupt.
“Well, I say I take responsibility for that,” he said.
“I think we made mistakes, we made mistakes I skip all the mistakes.
“But at the end of the day I think we made more right decisions than wrong ones, and that’s why Qantas is still around.”
Qantas’ illegal dismissal of staff came months before baggage handlers were due to renegotiate an enterprise agreement that would have allowed workers to go on strike.
The airline denied conspiring to prevent this.
