Profile: Alan Joyce — the Irishman who was the head of Australia's biggest airline
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With Qantas Group engulfed in a ticketing scandal, its long-term chief executive, Irishman Alan Joyce, has opted to step down immediately two months ahead of his expected retirement date.
This brings to an end Mr Joyce’s career with the company, which has seen him guide the airline through extremely turbulent times, including the financial crisis, the pandemic, fluctuating fuel prices, and a bruising market share battle with Virgin Australia domestically, and international rivals such as Emirates and Etihad Airways.
His tenure in the position made him one of the longest-serving chief executives of a major Australian company, and a high-profile figure in the global aviation industry.
Originally from Dublin, Mr Joyce studied at Dublin Institute of Technology and Trinity College Dublin before joining Aer Lingus in 1988.
He held numerous positions during his time at the Irish airline including in sales, marketing, IT, network planning, operations research, revenue management, and fleet planning.
In 1996, he left Aer Lingus to join Ansett Australia, where he would stay until 2000. Ansett Australia struggled and would eventually go out of business in 2002.
However, in 2003, Mr Joyce would become chief executive of Qantas Group’s budget airline Jetstar.
It was here he would cut his teeth as the head of a major Australian airline before being catapulted into the role of chief executive of the entire group in November 2008.
During his time at the head of the company, he has held numerous positions across the industry as well as in business circles in Australia.
Between June 2009 and October 2021, he was a member of the International Air Transport Association’s board of governors, having served as chairman from 2012 to 2013. He was also a director of the Business Council of Australia between November 2013 and November 2022.
He is also chairman of the Sydney Theatre Company and a board member of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.
Mr Joyce, who is gay, has been a vocal supporter of campaigns for marriage equality. He was a prominent voice during Australia’s moves to legalise same-sex marriage in 2017.
In 2019, he married his long-term partner Shane Lloyd.
Mr Joyce has also called for the recognition of Aboriginal people in the nation’s constitution and for women’s progress in the corporate world.
His tenure at the top of the company was not without controversy. In 2011, in the heat of a bitter industrial dispute with unions, Mr Joyce announced the company would ground all its flights until unions agreed to a new deal.
Following this decision, Mr Joyce hired bodyguards after receiving death threats.
In May, it was announced that Mr Joyce would be stepping down as chief executive in November, with the company saying he would be succeeded in the role by Vanessa Hudson. She currently serves as the company’s chief financial officer.
He was set to leave the company in a healthy-enough position, with the most recent financial report showing a record profit of $2.47bn for the 2022/2023 financial year.
However, Mr Joyce would ultimately bring forward his departure date following a ticketing scandal that is currently being investigated by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
At the end of last month, the ACCC announced that it was taking legal action against the company over allegations it sold more than 8,000 tickets on flights it had already cancelled in its system.
The company acknowledged its image had been hit hard due to customer dissatisfaction as it had been the most complained about company to the ACCC over the past two years.
Ms Hudson is now expected to take over the reins of the airline on Wednesday before she is formally confirmed as chief executive by the board in November.