Former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has returned to public life to defend his tarnished legacy as the full cost of the airline’s illegal cost-cutting efforts comes into view.
In his first address in nearly two years, Mr Joyce shared his vision for the industry at an aviation conference in Sydney on Thursday but skirted around his illegal sacking of more than 1800 ground crew and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.
‘Here’s the real insight: resilience isn’t a reaction… it’s a decision made years in advance, often when it’s uncomfortable, even unpopular,’ he told a crowd of more than 200 aviation executives and airline employees.
‘Qantas was the only major Australian airline not to go bankrupt during or after the pandemic… that wasn’t luck, that was resilience.’
It came only days before Qantas is expected to be fined up to nine figures for the mass staff sackings which a court ruled was designed to curb union bargaining power in wage negotiations.
The Transport Workers Union (TWU) said the former chief executive was deliberately downplaying the consequences of the unlawful outsourcing.
‘Alan Joyce did not save Qantas, he set out with malicious intentions to destroy it,’ a spokesperson told the Daily Mail.
‘1800 illegally sacked Qantas workers are not thankful for the decisions made under Joyce’s watch. Their lives will never be the same.’
Alan Joyce (pictured) praised Qantas’ resilience during the pandemic days out from learning its Federal Court penalty over the illegal sacking of some 1800 employees
Despite steering Qantas through the pandemic – the only major Australian airline to not go bankrupt – Mr Joyce quit the airline under a cloud of soaring customer dissatisfaction and regulatory backlash in September 2023.
Qantas slashed his $9million bonus from his departing pay packet, with other executives and directors also facing a cut after the brand turbulence.
The airline has since agreed to set up a $120million compensation fund for its wrongly sacked workers after reaching a deal with the TWU.
Qantas also sold tickets to cancelled flights over several years, triggering more legal turmoil and a $100 million fine after it was sued by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
Speaking generally at the conference, Mr Joyce defended the cost-cutting efforts during the pandemic which included ‘reducing operations’ and ‘standing down staff’.
‘Qantas, at one point, was just 11 weeks away from running out of cash. That’s not a buffer; that’s staring into the abyss,’ he said.
‘But we didn’t fall. We made hard and painful decisions.’
Mr Joyce seemed amused by media attention surrounding his appearance but quipped that it at least meant ‘Donald Trump didn’t do anything weird last night’.
Qantas was 11 weeks away from running out of cash during the pandemic, Mr Joyce admitted
‘It’s great that I’m no longer head of the national carrier and I can make jokes like that without worrying about F-16s turning around Qantas aircraft,’ he said, according to The Australian.
Mr Joyce indicated he plans to remain in the aviation industry, but refused to say what shape his next steps might take.
A memoir, which his manager Robert Joske told the Australian Financial Review in May had attracted ‘a lot of interest from publishers’, may also keep Mr Joyce busy as he reflects on his legacy.
He also shared his hopes for the future of the industry, stating airlines must take more climate action, including building a sustainable aviation fuel industry to ‘transform the environmental footprint of flight’.
‘If we don’t, we risk losing public trust, regulatory permission and, ultimately, our social licence to operate,’ he said.
‘This isn’t fringe, it’s the future and it’s grounded in a very human concern for sustainability and intergenerational fairness.’
Federal Court judge Michael Lee is due to hand down a fine over the illegal outsourcing on Monday, with the TWU pushing for the maximum fine of $121million.
