New Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson’s plan to fix reputation as Alan Joyce exits
New Qantas boss Vanessa Hudson revealed to staff her plan to fix the airline’s reputation – with Alan Joyce leaving some big messes in his wake.
New Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson says she is putting customers first as she embarks on the challenge of repairing the airline’s reputation.
Ms Hudson, Qantas’ former chief financial officer, took over the top job on Wednesday after Alan Joyce announced he would be bringing forward his retirement by two months so the airline could “move ahead with its renewal” under new management.
It comes after a tumultuous couple of weeks, including the consumer watchdog seeking to penalise the airline by more than $250 million for allegedly selling sale tickets for already-cancelled flights.
In a video message to staff after the shock announcement of Mr Joyce’s early exit on Tuesday, Ms Hudson said the new management team would be focused on customers.
“We have spent a century safely carrying Australians to all parts of the globe and bringing the world to our shore,” she said.
“We’ve overcome many challenges in the process and right now it feels like we’re chasing another challenging time.”
She continued: “We know that post-Covid we haven’t always delivered to what our customers expect, but we are listening and we hear what they are saying. As a company our job is to get the balance right between looking after our customers, you our people, and the business itself.
“Right now achieving this balance must first start with our customers and that’s what we will be focused on with our new management team.”
Ms Hudson is the first woman to lead the Qantas Group.
She has worked in a number of executive positions across the company over 28 years, including chief customer officer and senior vice president for Qantas across the Americas and New Zealand.
Speaking to media at a press conference on August 24, Ms Hudson said she was “excited” about the future and said Qantas’ FY23 full-year results were “not as good as it gets” as the future earnings potential of the business was expected to continue to grow.
The Qantas Group posted an underlying profit before tax of $2.47 billion. It had a statutory profit after tax of $1.74 billion.
While Qantas critics came out swinging on Tuesday about the further changes needed at the company, Flight Centre boss Graham Turner said he believed Ms Hudson would be in a good position to take over two months early and is confident the airline will improve its reputation.
“Qantas the brand will recover back to being one of the top brands. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that,” he told the Today Show.
Richard de Crespigny, a former Qantas pilot of 34 years, told A Current Affair not all the airline’s problems would not go away with Mr Joyce’s departure.
He said he believed Ms Hudson was good for the job, but things needed to change and he was hopeful it would happen.
“Vanessa Hudson comes from a great background, she knows the company, she knows the finances, she knows how it operates,” he said.
Helen Bird, a corporate governance expert from the Swinburne University of Technology, said it was important to remember that Ms Hudson was a protégé of Mr Joyce “and may simply want to continue business as usual, in the Joyce way”.
“Time will tell,” she added.
Ms Hudson has been left with a number of PR crisis to clean up.
ACCC suit filed over alleged “ghost flights”
The Australian Consumer and Consumption Commission launched action in the Federal Court on Thursday, alleging the national carrier had “engaged in false, misleading or deceptive conduct” by selling sale tickets for more than 8000 already-cancelled flights between May and July last year.
The ACCC is seeking to penalise the airline by more than $250 million.
A Qantas spokesperson said the airline was aware that the ACCC allegations especially had “caused significant concern among our customers”, but the allegations were being taken seriously.
“The ACCC’s allegations come at a time when Qantas’s reputation has already been hit hard on several fronts,” the spokesperson said.
“We want the community to know that we hear and understand their disappointment.
“We know it will take time to repair. And we are absolutely determined to do that.”
Qantas denied suggestions it had engaged in charging a “fee for no service” and said it would address the allegations in full “without cutting across the legal process”.
Under fire over handling of travel credits
Four days before the Qantas Group posted its full-year results on August 24, class action law firm Echo Law announced it had lodged proceedings against Qantas in the federal court over the airline’s handling of credits and refunds.
The following week, Mr Joyce faced intense questioning over the credits at a hearing for an Australian Senate inquiry into the cost of living, which he was issued a summons to appear at.
It was revealed at the hearing that the value of unredeemed credits Mr Joyce quoted the week prior ($370 million) when discussing the full-year results did not include Jetstar credits or international customers.
During questioning, Jetstar CEO Stephanie Tully, who also appeared at the hearing, revealed there were about $100 million in unredeemed Jetstar travel credits.
It meant there were at least $470 million of credits unredeemed across the Qantas Group due to expire at the end of this year, rather than the $370 million previously thought.
Four days after the hearing, Qantas and Jetstar scrapped the expiry date on the Covid travel credits.
Customers with a Qantas Covid credit can now request a cash refund at any point in the future, and customers with a Jetstar Covid voucher can use it for travel indefinitely.
“We’re doing this because we’ve listened,” Mr Joyce said in a video message.
“We know the credit system was not as smooth as it should have been and while we’ve improved it recently, and extended the expiry date several times, people lost faith in the process. We hope this helps change that.”
When discussing the company’s full-year results, Mr Joyce and Ms Hudson were asked how much of Qantas’ profit was because of unredeemed flight credits.
“We actually haven’t taken any material profit in unredeemed Covid credits at all,” Ms Hudson said.
Qantas’ relationship with PM Anthony Albanese
The Australian Government is under fire over its decision to reject an application from Qatar Airways for extra flights into Australia.
The decision has been slammed as a move to protect Qantas from competition.
Supporters, including Virgin Australia which has partnership with the Doha-based carrier, said the move would have reduced airfares for Australians, while Qantas, who opposed the decision, claimed it would “distort the market”.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been asked to review the controversial decision.
Mr Joyce’s relationship with Mr Albanese has been under scrutiny, with senators grilling the then-CEO about the Prime Minister at the hearing.
Mr Joyce was asked whether he had discussed Qatar’s proposal last October to increase its flights to Australia with Mr Albanese or Transport Minister Catherine King.
Mr Joyce refused to answer, saying: “I’ve said any conversations I have with the Prime Minister or Minister, I never divulge.”
He agreed to take a question about the dates he met with Mr Albanese or members of government on notice.
Mr Joyce also refused to answer questions about whether he had any conversations with Mr Albanese before deciding to grant his 23-year-old son access to Qantas’ invite-only Chairman’s Lounge, or whether Mr Joyce had given any family members of any other politicians a similar free membership.
Mr Joyce has also had to defend accusations that Qantas is hoarding flight slots at Sydney Airport to stop other airlines from getting them.
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