{"id":824938,"date":"2026-07-26T13:07:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T13:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/824938\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T13:07:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T13:07:13","slug":"alan-joyce-former-qantas-ceo-reflects-on-post-covid-failures-and-takes-responsibility-for-airlines-survival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/824938\/","title":{"rendered":"Alan Joyce: Former Qantas CEO reflects on post-COVID failures and takes responsibility for airline\u2019s survival"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ChrisSave<\/p>\n

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AAA<\/p>\n

Former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has claimed responsibility for the airline\u2019s survival, three years after a series of customer-service outages and operational failures infuriated the public.<\/p>\n

Joyce acknowledged the airline\u2019s dismal post-COVID recovery experience, a chaotic period marked by skyrocketing fares and illegal sackings, in comments broadcast on 60 Minutes. Joyce stepped away from the role two months early in 2023 amid political and consumer backlash.<\/p>\n

\"AlanAlan Joyce attempts to answer criticism about his leadership at Qantas in his memoir Riding the Jet Stream.60 Minutes<\/p>\n

He said the hard decisions aided the company. \u201cI think Qantas is in survival [mode] now because we got more things right than we got wrong,\u201d he told 60 Minutes\u2019<\/a> Tracy Grimshaw. \u201cI recognise that when it comes down to it, the buck will always stop with the CEO on these things, and I accept that.\u201d<\/p>\n

As COVID lock-downs ended in 2022, and the airline began restarting its flight schedule, passengers were left stranded amidst endless airport queues, backed-up call centres, and cancellations. Qantas\u2019 performance was further imperilled by the decision in 2021 to fire 1820 ground crew and baggage handlers, which meant it struggled to process customer luggage.<\/p>\n

60 Minutes is owned by Nine Entertainment, owner of this masthead. Joyce has been speaking to the media ahead of the release of his autobiography on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Damien<\/a><\/p>\n

In some of his first extensive comments on his 15 years as Qantas boss, Joyce says that one of his biggest regrets is how the company handled its exit from COVID, a period that included the notorious \u201cghost flights\u201d, the withholding of flight credits, and criticism of passengers for not being \u201cmatch fit\u201d for flying.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my biggest regrets is how we handled coming out of COVID because we got it badly wrong,\u201d Joyce told The Australian this weekend. \u201cCOVID was not great. It was terrible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Qantas fired 1800 ground crew in 2021, which was challenged in court by the Transport Workers Union, which ultimately prevailed. Qantas agreed to pay $120 million in compensation to the workers, and then was fined another $90 million by the court for not being sufficiently contrite. The events precipitated Joyce\u2019s early departure as CEO in 2023.<\/p>\n

Vanessa Hudson took over as CEO and has undertaken a rebuilding of trust and relationships both within the company and with the travelling public.<\/p>\n

Joyce said that the decision to fire the workers was that of then-CEO for Domestic and International Andrew David, according to<\/a> The Australian. \u201cThis decision was Andrew David\u2019s alone,\u201d Joyce said, adding, however, that he takes responsibility for the airline\u2019s actions during his time in charge. The 1820 affected workers are still awaiting compensation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In comments carried by The Australian, Joyce denied \u201csuggestions that he ever personally upgraded\u201d Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to business or first class.<\/p>\n

In a reference to Joe Aston\u2019s book The Chairman\u2019s Lounge, Joyce said that \u201cclaims were aired that I\u2019d personally upgraded the prime minister\u2019s flights. My first thought was, \u2018That\u2019s news to me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Joyce also denied that he upgraded the prime minister\u2019s son to the Chairman\u2019s Lounge, an invitation-only club usually reserved for politicians, business leaders and top media editors.<\/p>\n

Joyce referred questions about Albanese\u2019s son to the PM.<\/p>\n

Editor’s pick\"Qantas.\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Joyce, who earned global respect for his management of Qantas, was forced to front a Senate inquiry in 2023 in which he defended the company\u2019s profits during a cost-of-living crisis.<\/p>\n

He was criticised for earning a combined $125 million over his tenure as CEO of 15 years, a time which saw clashes with unions, the successful launch of Jetstar, and forged a lasting alliance with Dubai-based Emirates.<\/p>\n

Joyce\u2019s book, \u2018Alan Joyce: Riding the Jet Stream\u2019 will be released on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"ChrisChris Zappone<\/a> is a senior reporter covering aviation and business. He is former digital foreign editor.Connect via X<\/a>, Facebook<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":824939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-824938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=824938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/824939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=824938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=824938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=824938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}