Virgin Australia’s chief of corporate affairs, Moksha Watts, quits after behaviour review

Virgin Australia’s chief of corporate affairs Moksha Watts has resigned less than a year into the role.

Moksha Watts is a former adviser to Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd

Virgin Australia’s chief of corporate affairs has quit less than a year into the role, amid an internal review of her workplace behaviour.

CEO Jayne Hrdlicka announced the resignation of Moksha Watts to staff on Sunday in an internal memo, which was seen by The Australian. Ms Hrdlicka noted Ms Watts had taken the decision “in the midst of an ongoing internal review about her workplace behaviour”.

“She felt it was in her best interests and the best interests of the company to resign,” wrote Ms Hrdlicka.

“Moksha joined Virgin Australia in March 2021 and has done a significant and valued job with governments, key stakeholders and crafting the company’s sustainability policy.”

Ms Watts was one of six appointments to Virgin’s “executive leadership team” soon after the sale of the airline to US private equity firm Bain Capital.

Virgin CEO Jayne Hrdlicka

She joined Virgin Australia after a seven-month stint with The Arnott’s Group, and previously spent four years with Qantas and Jetstar, where she got to know Ms Hrdlicka, a former Jetstar CEO.

The University of Sydney arts and science graduate also worked as an adviser to former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd in 2013, following stints with Anthony Albanese and Jenny Macklin.

Ms Watts’ resignation from Virgin came after a significant turnover of staff in the corporate affairs department.

Since the sale to Bain Capital only one employee remained in the same role, with at least five others leaving the airline.

Virgin’s chief people officer Lisa Burquest would takeover Ms Watts’ responsibilities immediately, Ms Hrdlicka said in her message to staff.

“At Virgin Australia we work hard to ensure our workplace is a safe and positive workplace for everyone and we strive to live our values every day,” said Ms Hrdlicka.

“Grievances of any nature will be taken seriously and we follow due process in investigating in order to be fair to everyone involved.”

Virgin Australia declined to comment further.

The internal uproar came after a lengthy court battle involving another executive, Velocity CEO Nick Rohrlach.

After jumping ship to Virgin from Qantas where he headed Jetstar Japan, Mr Rohrlach was at the centre of a legal dispute over his starting date.

Originally scheduled to begin with Velocity in May, Qantas took court action to ensure he observed a “non-compete clause” in his contract that prevented him from working for Virgin until September.

Qantas claimed that shortly before his resignation, Mr Rohrlach accepted a senior role with their frequent flyer program and had been privy to commercially sensitive information.

The bitter tug of war over his employment highlighted the ongoing rivalry between Qantas and Virgin Australia despite Ms Hrdlicka maintaining a personal friendship with Alan Joyce.

Since emerging from administration in 2020, Virgin Australia has targeted the “mid-market” between premium airline Qantas and low fares partner Jetstar, in a strategy yet to be proven given the disruption of the pandemic.

An overhaul of enterprise agreements for employees as part of an intensive cost restructuring program was achieved with a minimum of fuss, to help deliver lower airfares.

The carrier does face tougher times in 2022 as Rex undertakes an aggressive expansion of its domestic network, and new budget airline Bonza takes off, targeting leisure travellers.

Originally published as Virgin Australia’s chief of corporate affairs, Moksha Watts, quits after behaviour review