Qantas appoints first female CEO as Alan Joyce steps down

Alan Joyce, one of the best known and most divisive figures in the global aviation sector, will step down as head of Australia’s national carrier Qantas after 15 years in charge, with the airline promoting chief financial officer Vanessa Hudson to replace him.

Hudson, who will become the airline’s 13th chief executive in its 103-year history and its first female leader, fought off competition from 40 candidates for the role.

She has been with the Australian airline, known colloquially as the “flying kangaroo”, for almost 30 years, with roles ranging from network planning and catering to running its US and New Zealand operations. She was promoted to chief financial officer in 2019 and, alongside Joyce, saw the airline through the pandemic, when tourism and travel collapsed in Australia and the airline was left weeks away from financial collapse.

Richard Goyder, Qantas chair, said Hudson was finance chief “during what was probably the most challenging and tumultuous period in the airline’s history”. This had steeled her for the top job, which he described as “a uniquely challenging role”.

The appointment answers one of the main unresolved questions in Australian corporate circles. Joyce was due to retire in 2020 but agreed to stay on to lead the business through the pandemic.

Joyce, an Irishman who joined the airline at the turn of the century and was promoted to chief executive in 2008, transformed the business into one of the most profitable airlines in the world but infuriated unions by grounding the fleet and cutting thousands of jobs in order to do so.

The airline’s reputation suffered a significant blow last year when lockdowns ended. After cutting thousands of ground staff to bolster its balance sheet, Qantas endured a customer service meltdown. Irate travellers, left without their luggage or facing severe delays or missed connections, coined the term “Joyced” to capture their frustration.

The appointment of Hudson, who is 53, from November gives the company a chance to reset its relationship with customers and workers. The Transport Workers’ Union immediately said she would face an “uphill” battle to restore good relations, but the handover nonetheless represented a “golden opportunity” for a reboot.

Hudson, speaking at a press conference held next to Sydney’s Kingsford Smith airport, said she hoped to build a “constructive relationship” with the unions as the company continued to recover from its pandemic turbulence.

She also pointed to a A$200mn ($133mn) investment in improving its customer services and a fleet overhaul project dubbed Project Sunrise as growth opportunities.

Qantas shares fell 2.5 per cent to A$6.57. Anthony Moulder, an analyst with Jefferies, said the appointment represented a “seamless transition”, describing the handover as a “changing of the guard, not of the strategy”.