Qantas chief Alan Joyce steps down following series of scandals

Qantas boss exits early amid mounting scandals.

Qantas Airways said on Tuesday that long-serving CEO Alan Joyce would exit the company prematurely as a reputational turbulence engulfs Australia’s flagship carrier.

Joyce was set to leave in November, after 15 years as chief executive, but will now exit the role immediately.

The accelerated departure comes after the Australian flag carrier on Monday apologized for its service standards falling short and acknowledged it was suffering reputational damage amid a series of controversies related to its treatment of customers.

Those include revelations that it successfully lobbied the Australian government to deny a bid by Qatar Airways to operate more flights to Europe despite soaring airfares and plans to let nearly $323m of pandemic-era flight credits expire at the year’s end.

Australia’s consumer regulator sued Qantas last week for allegedly selling tickets for 8,000 flights that had already been cancelled and failing to inform, until the last minute, passengers on 10,000 flights that needed to be rearranged.

The airline could face a fine running to hundreds of millions of dollars if found guilty.

Joyce, 57, said he was proud of his work at Qantas and was leaving “knowing the company is fundamentally strong and has a bright future”.

“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.

Airline chairman Richard Goyder, meanwhile, acknowledged the “challenging time” facing the carrier.

“This transition comes at what is obviously a challenging time for Qantas and its people. 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 [Hudson’s] leadership will do,” Goyder said.

Vanessa Hudson, Qantas’s chief financial officer, will take over the top job, becoming Qantas’ first female boss.

The carrier’s deteriorating reputation and looming threat of hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties has helped push the airline’s share price down more than 12% in the past month, even after Qantas announced a $2.47 billion full-year record profit, and robust outlook.