Qantas promotes Olivia Wirth to head of loyalty business

Qantas high-flyer Olivia Wirth has been promoted, putting her in line to one day lead the Australian airline.

Olivia Wirth with Qantas staff Eduardo Bolton and Kelsey Donohue. Picture: James Croucher

Qantas has appointed high-flyer Olivia Wirth to run its booming loyalty business, a move that potentially puts her on the list of future leadership contenders for Australia’s flagship airline.

After Qantas said Ms Wirth would become chief executive officer of the profitable division, industry veteran Peter Harbison, the CAPA-Centre for Aviation executive chairman, said the announcement put her “in the category of potential successors”.

The move closes a hole left by the resignation of Jayne Hrdlicka, who last month dealt a blow to the succession planning at Qantas by announcing she was resigning from the group to join the a2 Milk Company as a chief executive.

After Qantas boss Alan Joyce announced a major executive reshuffle last year, Ms Hrdlicka was moved from heading the budget offshoot Jetstar to become chief of Qantas Loyalty and digital ventures, which was to also include innovation.

But in an email to staff yesterday, Mr Joyce said that the “innovation” portfolio, which had been moved under loyalty, would now report to Rob Marcolina as the group executive of strategy, innovation and technology.

Meanwhile, Vanessa Hudson, executive manager of sales and distribution for the airline, who has been with Qantas since 1994, will take the role that Ms Wirth vacates — chief customer officer.

Mr Joyce’s email flagged a few other internal changes at Qantas.

The corporate affairs area, headed by Andrew McGinnes, will report to the group executive of people and culture, Lesley Grant, “with a dotted line” to Mr Joyce as group CEO. Meanwhile, online travel booking site Hooroo “will continue its transition to become part of loyalty”; it had been part of Jetstar before.

Mr Harbison said digital areas were “the really, really sexy bit of the whole airline business globally” and it was an area where generally “the airlines have really got to get out there and get smart”.

For the 2016-17 financial year, Qantas Loyalty reported record earnings based on underlying EBIT of $369 million.

The move continues the career ascent of Ms Wirth, who has been with Qantas for nine years.

In his email to staff, Mr Joyce said Ms Wirth had been “managing what is the highest-profile brand in the country”.

“In her current role she’s had responsibility for the frequent- flyer marketing function, so loyalty is a business she already knows and she’s well placed to lead its continued expansion as its CEO,” the email said.

Ms Wirth joined Qantas in 2009 from the Tourism and Transport Forum, to head the airline’s corporate affairs and public relations, and later became head of corporate and government affairs. It became a high-profile role, especially during the grounding of the fleet in 2011. In 2013 she was appointed group executive for brand, marketing and corporate affairs, then given the chief customer officer title during last year’s reshuffle. Her first job in 1997 was with the then Tourism Council Australia, which was headed by former Liberal MP Bruce Baird.

While Mr Joyce has previously emphasised that he has no plans to go any time soon, Jetstar boss Gareth Evans has been viewed as among potential successors.