You’re right Alan Joyce, Qantas’ results are unacceptable — so why don’t you sack yourself?

QANTAS boss Alan Joyce is right about one thing: the iconic airline’s financial results are unacceptable. So why is he still in his job?

ALAN Joyce is right about one thing: Qantas’ financial results are unacceptable.

The Irish-born boss of Australia’s iconic national airline sounded more like a chairman of the board about to sack himself yesterday declaring his own financial results “unacceptable and unsustainable”.

Looking ahead ... Alan Joyce.

After reading a lengthy pre-prepared statement, stumbling over his words at times, Joyce’s first question from journalists was about his own position as CEO.

“I’m absolutely committed to Qantas, going forward.”

Ah, that’s nice Alan, going forward. It’s looking back that’s the problem.

The now 47 year old Joyce migrated to Australia in 1996 after ditching the three leave clover of Ireland’s national carrier Aer Lingus to join the ill-fated Ansett Australia.

READ MORE: ALL THE LATEST ON QANTAS’ ANNOUNCEMENT

He jumped to Qantas in 2000 and was shortly after appointed CEO of its budget subsidiary Jetstar in 2003. Five years later, the Irishman was appointed Australia’s chief Flying Kangaroo after a botched $11 billion private equity buyout launched with the support of his predecessor Geoff Dixon and Qantas management.

It was not the best of times to run an airline. Just two months before talking the helm, US investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed, sending the world financial system into a tail spin.

There is no denying the external pressures that Qantas has encountered under Joyce’s watch: a global financial crisis, record fuel prices, a high Aussie dollar and aggressive competition from low cost carriers.

Iconic ... the future remains uncertain for the Flying Kangaroo.

But after half a decade in the top job, Joyce’s management track record is far from unblemished.

He has maintained a fractious relationship with workers, criticised for his heavy handling of a union industrial dispute in 2011 in which he chose to ground the entire Qantas mainland fleet, leaving passengers stranded.

"Under Joyce’s watch, the gloss is off the Qantas brand."

Joyce has also had to deal with a well-resourced and aggressive competitor in Virgin, headed by John Borghetti — a former Qantas executive and once rival for Joyce’s job.

Under Borghetti’s tenure, Virgin — of the smiling, joke-cracking hostesses — has morphed into a viable alternative to Qantas for business travellers.

Questionably, Joyce chose to counter Virgin’s aggressive bid for increased share of the business traveller market by vowing to put on 200 seats for every 100 seats by Virgin.

Any high school economics student could tell you that if you increase the supply of something, you decrease the price you can charge.

Bad news ... Alan Joyce announces the radical cuts and job losses.

Under Joyce’s watch, the gloss is off the Qantas brand. Unions have decried the Jetstar Asia incursion as a “failed exercise” which is struggling to break even after almost a decade.

Today, three out of four Australians leaving the country do so on an airlines other than Qantas.

Joyce’s only response to date seems to be to cut costs, axing 5000 workers yesterday and seeking to impose a pay freeze on all staff.

READ MORE: FULL DETAILS OF THE FINANCIAL LOSS

For a man paid $5 million in 2009-10, that will be a hard thing for unions to stomach.

Particularly when Qantas’ share price has plummeted from $3 a share when Joyce took the helm to just a bit over a buck yesterday.

Yes Alan, that’s unacceptable.

Any board acting in the best interests of shareholders would have to consider that grounds for sacking.

*Jessica Irvine is National Economics Editor.