Virgin appoints Paul Jones to chief commercial officer role following Dave Emerson moving to CEO

The man the unions stopped from running Virgin has received a promotion under its new chief, with Paul Jones to step into the role of chief commercial officer.

Jayne Hrdlicka is being succeeded as Virgin CEO by Dave Emerson. Picture: James D. Morgan/Getty Images

Paul Jones, who had to step aside as frontrunner for the top job at Virgin Australia bowing to union opposition, has been named the airline’s chief commercial officer.

“I’m happy to share that I’m starting ... as Chief Commercial Officer at Virgin Australia!” Jones wrote on LinkedIn.

Virgin appointed virtual unknown Dave Emerson to take the reins of Australia’s second-biggest airline after Jones ruled himself out amid a mounting union backlash.

Before joining Virgin, Jones had worked at Qantas as chief operating officer and it was revealed in court documents that he had played an aggressive role in Qantas’s decision to illegally fire 1700 baggage handlers during Covid-19. That decision has already cost Qantas $120m in compensation and the airline is yet to find out what the size of its penalty will be.

On LinkedIn, Virgin general manager strategy, commercial engineering and maintenance Steve Beattie congratulated Jones on his new appointment.

“Congratulations on the new expanded role. Well deserved,” wrote Beattie, whose role would include many union members.

The unions started a campaign against Jones’ candidacy when it was revealed by The Australian that he was down to the final two. The other candidate was rumoured to be an executive from United Airlines, but that person declined the position.

Last week, Virgin’s owner Bain Capital announced another American instead, promoting Emerson who had worked for many years as a consultant at Bain & Co before joining the airline a year after it was purchased from administrators.

Virgin just received approval for global airline Qatar Airways to take a 25 per cent stake and will now benefit from having almost no international network, to being able to offer passengers flights on the airline consistently voted to have the world’s best business class.

The move comes as Virgin and Qantas make record and near-record profits consecutively from the demise of regional airline Rex, which has reduced supply, and the lack of availability of new aircraft deterring any potential new serious competitors. Along with Jones’ promotion to chief commercial officer, the airline has appointed Chris Snook as the new chief operating officer and moved Stu Aggs to the position of chief risk officer.