Nick Rohrlach, the ‘man who knew too much’ at Qantas, starts at Virgin Australia
Virgin Australia has finally welcomed its new Velocity CEO after a nine-month legal tug of war with Qantas.
The man at the centre of a legal tug of war between Qantas and Virgin Australia has finally been allowed to start his new job of Velocity CEO, almost a year after accepting the role.
Former Jetstar Japan chief executive Nick Rohrlach was accused of blindsiding Qantas by taking the role with Velocity, after formally accepting a senior position with Qantas Loyalty.
As part of his appointment, he was given access to commercially sensitive information about the frequent flyer program, which Qantas feared he would share with its rival.
In an effort to reduce the chances of that happening, Qantas took Mr Rohrlach to court to legally enforce a six-month non-compete clause in his employment contract on top of three-months notice.
Virgin Australia fought back, forcing the case to be relocated to the Supreme Court of Singapore in the hope Mr Rohrlach would be allowed to start at Velocity in May, as planned.
Qantas hit back, winning an injunction to stop Mr Rohrlach from commencing with Velocity until the court matter was resolved, or until the nine months was complete.
That occurred on September 18, with Mr Rohrlach spending his first day on the job at Velocity on Monday.
Neither Qantas nor Virgin Australia were keen to discuss the conflict over Mr Rohrlach but indicated there were still some legal matters to be resolved.
They are believed to relate to costs for the hearings in Singapore, with both airlines running up significant legal bills in the course of the battle.
The fight over Mr Rohrlach underlined the high stakes involved in the pursuit of “loyalty” for airlines with both Qantas frequent flyers and Velocity proving very lucrative businesses.
In the 2021 financial year, Qantas Loyalty was the only segment of the airline to generate a positive result, recording $272m in earnings before interest and tax, and is expected to return to double digit growth in the next 12 months.
At the same time Velocity was the only unit of Virgin Australia not placed into administration in April 2020, but has been without a CEO since Courtney Petersen departed last December.
Despite operating for just over 15 years – 18 years less than Qantas frequent flyers – Velocity has built up a membership of about 10 million people, compared to its rival’s 13 million.
Virgin Australia recently announced extensions of Velocity’s platinum, gold and silver memberships, for either eight months or until February 28, 2023.
The program was also set to allow members to use their rewards to book on international airline partners, thought to include Singapore Airlines, Etihad Airways, Delta Air Lines and Air Canada.
Since emerging from administration Virgin Australia has put its own long-haul flying schedule on ice until its fleet is expanded beyond Boeing 737s.
The carrier remains hopeful of relaunching trans-Tasman services later this year, once borders reopen in Australia and New Zealand.
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