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<\/p>\nLife has slowed down for Alan Joyce.<\/p>\n
Most days start with a stroll along the Sydney Harbour foreshore with husband Shane Lloyd and his dog Milo.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Alan Joyce has stayed away from the public eye after his abrupt exit from Qantas in 2023.\u00a060 Minutes<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a stark contrast for this former very public figure.<\/p>\n
For 20 years, he was a corporate titan as the chief executive of Jetstar and Qantas.<\/p>\n
But since his early and controversial retirement from the airline in September 2023, Alan has vanished from the headlines.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter I left Qantas, I agreed with my husband Shane that I wouldn’t work for a year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe burden and the stress of all of those years, particularly the COVID years, really I think had gotten to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I was the frog in the proverbial hot water, didn’t know it at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then for the last year I’ve been writing a book. It\u2019s a bigger task than I thought.\u201d<\/p>\n
His memoir is called Riding the Jet Stream.<\/p>\n
Joyce wants his say about those turbulent final years, his hasty exit, the court battles and crucially a scathing cultural review.<\/p>\n
His book is an attempt to respond to the critics who have said his leadership destroyed the iconic brand.<\/p>\n
Small town beginnings<\/p>\n
Joyce\u2019s extraordinary life and 30-year aviation career had a very ordinary start.<\/p>\n
It began in the small town of Tallaght on the outskirts of Dublin in Ireland.<\/p>\n
The Joyce home was full of love and tenacity but money was tight.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe survived from paycheck to paycheck,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI recognise how fortunate I am and I never take that for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joyce remembers feeling scared as a schoolboy, fearing people knowing his sexuality.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was probably a confused kid in a lot of ways because I was gay,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Despite the high stakes job at one of the biggest companies in Australia, Alan Joyce has not abandoned his roots, visiting his hometown and family in Ireland often.\u00a060 Minutes<\/p>\n
\u201cI was worried about being kicked out of home, because I had a neighbour being kicked out when he was 15 or 16 because he was gay, so there was a lot of angst.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joyce said at one point he thought about ending his life.<\/p>\n
If you or someone you know is in need of support contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue. In the event of an emergency dial Triple Zero (000).<\/p>\n
\u201cTalk about that stress of having to come out to the world, there’s a lot of stress in that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut then when I came out to my parents, it was so loving that that changed everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now in her 80s, mother Colette is still there to wrap her arms around her son and fend off those critics.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just gave him a hug,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Joyce described his parents\u2019 acceptance as \u201ca big, big thing for me\u201d.<\/p>\n
He also grew up witnessing his mother\u2019s grit in life, describing himself as \u201cmy mother\u2019s son\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it was your determination that got us through school,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that’s where the success came from.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rise in corporate life<\/p>\n
With that same grit and Celtic blood, Joyce was determined to rise up.<\/p>\n
He became the first person in his family to finish secondary education and did a maths degree in operations research.<\/p>\n
This decision led him to his first opportunity in the aviation industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cA job came up, operations research analyst in Aer Lingus, the Irish airline,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Alan Joyce attempts to answer criticism about his leadership at Qantas in his memoir Riding the Jet Stream.\u00a060 Minutes<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t apply for the airline industry, I applied for the job.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have to say that it does get in your blood.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you work in the industry, you start falling in love with it, and I did.\u201d<\/p>\n
From that moment, the then-22-year-old took the role and started to climb the ladder quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI usually got promotions to the next level faster than anybody else,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was the youngest manager at one stage in Aer Lingus.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had this target of to be CEO of an airline by the time I was 40.\u201d<\/p>\n
Move abroad changes everything<\/p>\n
n 1996, Joyce moved across the world to Australia, in what was his sliding doors moment.<\/p>\n
He was offered a job at Ansett and he took it, which proved to be a move that would lead him to his future husband Lloyd.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe met at the Exchange pub in Melbourne, which was famous for drag shows,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe initial spark was there, just having fun at a pub, but then over time as we got to know each other, we realised our personalities complement each other,\u201d Lloyd said.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Alan Joyce and husband Shane Lloyd.\u00a060 Minutes<\/p>\n
Before long, Joyce was poached by Qantas which led to his favourite gig: building Jetstar from scratch.<\/p>\n
The budget airline launched in 2004 and has grown into a business worth about $6 billion.<\/p>\n
Joyce said without Jetstar he would never have been in the frame for Qantas chief executive.<\/p>\n
In 2008, at just 42, he got the top job.<\/p>\n
The \u2018dog years\u2019<\/p>\n
Joyce describes his 20-year tenure as chief executive, including five years at the helm of Jetstar and 15 years in the top job at Qantas, as the \u201cdog years\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are very stressful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are years where it’s the best job in the world and there are years and periods where it’s the worst job in the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a result, you know that you have to be careful you don’t burn out, you can only keep this going for so long.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his new memoir, Joyce reflects on the good times and heavily defends those controversial decisions made in his final years as CEO of Qantas.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we made mistakes, and I think we got things wrong, and I’d be the first to admit that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI look back at where we were in ’19, Qantas was at the highest of high, it had the best customer service rankings it’s ever had.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was making record profits and I was thinking, what a great way to sail into the sunset.\u201d<\/p>\n
His plan was to retire on a high at just 53 but then COVID grounded the entire world.<\/p>\n
\u201cCOVID knocked us between the eyes and then it became a bit (of a) survival because at one stage we had 11 weeks of cash left before we were going bankrupt,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the most horrible period I’ve had in my entire career, ’cause you were making horrendous decisions to make sure the airlines survived.\u201d<\/p>\n
But mistakes were made, costing the airline hundreds of millions in legal bills and penalties.<\/p>\n
In one of them, consumer watchdog the ACCC sued the airline for misleading passengers who purchased tickets for flights that had already been cancelled days or weeks earlier.<\/p>\n
They were essentially ghost flights and tens of thousands of Qantas customers were deceived.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had over 400,000 passengers we were trying to reaccommodate through the call centres, it was in chaos,\u201d Joyce said.<\/p>\n
But the hardest fought legal battle for Joyce and his leadership team was the brutal call they made during the first year of the pandemic, in 2020, to sack baggage handlers and cleaners and outsource their jobs.<\/p>\n
Critics said it was heartless and it turns out it was also illegal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought the airline was fighting for its survival,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
What got Qantas into trouble was the timing of the sackings, just months before the<\/p>\n
baggage handlers’ enterprise agreement reopened for negotiation.<\/p>\n
If they had waited, the workers would have been able to strike.<\/p>\n
Qantas denied it conspired to prevent that.<\/p>\n
The airline fought and lost in three courts but it managed to keep its famously hands-on CEO out of the witness box.<\/p>\n
Qantas was hammered for it.<\/p>\n
Last August a landmark penalty was handed down in the Federal Court of Australia.<\/p>\n
Judge Michael Lee was scathing of Qantas and the former CEO, fining the airline $90 million.<\/p>\n