Good riddance to Alan Joyce — who will be taking his undeserved millions and golden handshake with him, when he quits Qantas

Time’s up for Alan Joyce, who took Qantas from the “spirit of Australia” to an underperforming, activist airline that shoved toxic race politics down passengers’ throats.

Goodbye and good riddance, Alan Joyce. Take your undeserved millions – about $100m so far plus a reported $24m golden handshake – and leave the company that once enjoyed unparalleled levels of consumer goodwill.

Joyce took Qantas from the “spirit of Australia” to an underperforming activist airline, one that is facing a record penalty of $250m after being sued by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for allegedly engaging in “false, misleading or deceptive conduct”.

Passengers are more likely to have toxic race politics shoved down their throats than experience a premium service.

Whether you’re an occasional traveller grappling with flight credits and hour-long wait times on the airline’s ironically named customer service line or a frequent flyer accustomed to being disappointed by late and cancelled flights, rundown lounges, mediocre service and utterly unnecessary acknowledgements of country messages, it’s clear that Qantas’s credibility has crashed.

Joyce took Qantas from the “spirit of Australia” to an overcharging activist airline. Picture: Gaye Gerard

I have been writing about Joyce and Qantas’s warped priorities, substandard service and corporate virtue signalling for some time.

A year ago one of my pieces was headlined “Qantas is no longer the spirit of Australia”. It was considered scathing back then but it’s positively mild compared to the headlines the company has copped in recent days, such as “The lying kangaroo” and “Just give it back”, referring to the more than $500m Qantas was attempting to arrogate from customers.

The Qantas board should not have waited for Joyce to prematurely end his farewell tour this week.

It should have shown him the door long ago, and now the focus switches to chairman Richard Goyder and incoming chief executive Vanessa Hudson.

Qantas should have shown Joyce the door a long time ago. Picture: Getty

Judging by Goyder’s comments about Joyce’s departure, he still doesn’t get it. Being out of touch may be the norm at the AFL, where Goyder is commission chairman, but one would hope for higher standards in the aviation industry.

It beggars belief that Joyce could sell $17m of his own Qantas shares while the company knew the ACCC was looking into its shoddy conduct.

For confidence to be restored we need to see a dramatically different approach from Hudson and a reckoning for the board.