Olivia Wirth to become new boss of Qantas’ loyalty business

High flyer Olivia Wirth continues her rise at the airline with Alan Joyce promoting her to a key job.

Olivia Wirth will become chief executive officer of Qantas’ lucrative loyalty business. Picture: James Croucher

Qantas has moved to plug the gap left by the resignation of Jayne Hrdlicka, announcing that Olivia Wirth will head its booming loyalty division.

In a statement today, Qantas said that Ms Wirth, who is at the moment the group’s chief customer officer, will become chief executive officer of the loyalty business from February 12.

Last month, Ms Hrdlicka announced she was resigning from the group to join the a2 Milk Company as a chief executive.

That move came less than a month after an executive reshuffle saw her move from heading the budget offshoot Jetstar to heading up the loyalty business.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said the business would benefit from Ms Wirth’s “strong customer analytics and marketing experience”.

For the 2016-17 financial year, where the flagship carrier recorded its second-highest profit, Qantas Loyalty reported record earnings based on underlying earnings before net finance costs and tax (underlying EBIT).

The division has been diversifying its earnings. The division booked a record $369 million underlying EBIT, compared to $346 million the year prior.

By June 2017, there were 11.8 million Qantas frequent flyer members, a 3.7 change on the same time in 2016.

The business has broadened its earnings with measures such as co-branded credit cards, growing its health insurance offering and launching a life insurance product.

Meanwhile, Vanessa Hudson, who is executive manager of sales and distribution for the carrier, will take the job of chief customer officer, also from February 12.

Ms Wirth joined Qantas in 2009 as head of corporate affairs and public relations before being appointed group executive of corporate affairs and government relations in 2010, a position she held for three years. In 2013, she was became group executive, brand, marketing and corporate affairs. Last year she was made the first Qantas chief customer officer.

Ms Wirth is married to former trade union boss Paul Howes. Mr Howes is a partner at KPMG. He had spent 15 years in the labour movement, including seven years as head of the Australian Workers’ Union.

The couple, who were married in 2015, recently upgraded to a multimillion-dollar home in Sydney’s exclusive beachside suburb of Bronte. The Australian reported last week that they recently ­reaped a $1m profit from the sale of their Randwick house near Centennial Park on nearly 500sq m, having bought it in 2015 for $4.4m, records show. The sale price at Randwick was about $5.4m.

Olivia Wirth and her husband, former trade union boss and now KPMG partner Paul Howes. Picture: Richard Dobson