Success, it’s said, has many parents. But on Tuesday, Virgin Australia chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka was reluctant to take credit for the deal with Qatar Airways that will turbocharge the airline’s ability to compete with Qantas, buttress its financial position and provide private equity owner Bain Capital with a welcome payday.

Hrdlicka, who is expected to hand the reins to a yet-to-be-named successor within months, starts by deflecting praise to her people: it’s Virgin’s 8000 staff, she says, who have dragged the business back from collapse in 2020, and into the position where Qatar was willing to buy a 25 per cent stake from Bain.