Win for Brisbane as Virgin Australia appoints Paul Scurrah to CEO job

After a global search, Virgin Australia appointed a new chief executive officer from its own backyard in Brisbane.

Virgin Australia founds its new CEO Paul Scurrah in its own backyard in Brisbane.

After a global search, Virgin Australia appointed a new chief executive officer from its own backyard in Brisbane.

Paul Scurrah has spent most of his working life in Queensland, where he held the roles of Queensland Rail chief executive officer and executive vice-president of commercial and marketing at Aurizon.

He is also on the board of the Gold Coast Suns football club and recently finished a five-year contract with container stevedore business, DP World Australia.

Mr Scurrah will take over the reins as Virgin Australia CEO and managing director from John Borghetti on March 25. News of the appointment was first reported by The Australian’s Dataroom column on Wednesday.

Shares in Virgin Australia lifted in morning trade on Wednesday following the announcement of Mr Scurrah as the airlines’ new CEO. He will take over from John Borghetti on March 25.

The announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange saw shares in the airline lift 3.7 per cent to 19.2 cents.

Mr Scurrah said he was incredibly honoured to have been given the job following a global search by Virgin Australia, and he acknowledged he would have “big shoes to fill”.

“It is somewhat daunting,” he said.

“One thing I will be quite obsessed about is making sure that we have a culture where people thrive and can achieve great things, and that translates into very happy customers and importantly I’ll be focused on the bottom line for our shareholders.”

He said Mr Borghetti had made Virgin Australia very competitive, and he intended to “continue to compete”.

“I think it’s important that we intend to compete across all the sectors of the airline and aviation industry in this country,” said Mr Scurrah.

“It’s a wonderful product where it does fly already, and beyond that my views will be formed more solidly after the 25th of March.”

Mr Borghetti said he would deliver Virgin Australia’s half-year results next week, and then continue to do his job before handing over to Mr Scurrah.

The long-time CEO has already taken a board position with Coca-Cola Amatil, but Mr Borghetti was guarded on any other plans for his future.

“I start my important job on March 26 of planning my grandchild’s trip to Disneyland,” Mr Borghetti said.

He also joked that he would like to see Virgin Australia add his birthplace of Rome to its international network.

The 62-year-old took over as Virgin Australia CEO from Brett Godfrey in 2010 and went about transforming the business from budget carrier Virgin Blue to a premium airline.

It has 36 per cent domestic market share and 6.4 per cent of the international market in and out of Australia.

In the 2018 financial year, Virgin posted a $653 million loss, as a result of a series of asset write downs and restructuring costs in a move seen as “clearing the decks” for the new CEO.

Virgin said Mr Scurrah would continue to live in Brisbane and divide his time between Virgin Australia’s headquarters at Newstead, and the airlines’ corporate headquarters in Sydney.

Group chairman Elizabeth Bryan said Mr Scurrah was a highly regarded business leader and his appointment was testament to his strong leadership credentials which include more than 20-years in transport, logistics, travel and aviation.

“The board received enormous interest in the role (of CEO) both locally and internationally and Paul’s highly relevant transport and logistics expertise and strong commercial background make him the ideal candidate to consolidate the group’s achievements and continue to build momentum into the future,” Ms Bryan said.

“Paul inherits a strong business and we are confident he is well placed to deliver the next phase of the group’s strategy.”

She paid tribute to Mr Borghetti, who announced his decision to step down as CEO last year after eight years in the role, during which he oversaw the transformation of the airline from the budget carrier Virgin Blue to a premium airline.

“John has made a significant mark on the aviation industry as a whole and Australian travellers have benefited because of his commitment and dedication to improving airline travel,” said Ms Bryan.

“The board and I are grateful for his leadership and transformation of the airline to the diversified group it is today.”