Announcing a $1 billion loss for the airline yesterday, Joyce pointed to fare increases of up to 20 percent for international flights and 10 percent for domestic flights.
The higher costs are intended to offset rising fuel prices.
Joyce told ben Fordham on 2GB that he and the airline would have to stand trial for future performances.
“This is the most difficult period for the aviation industry,” he said.
“The restart has not been as smooth as we hoped. We should do better and we will do better.”
Asked how much he had made laying off workers during the pandemic, Joyce said the cuts had reached even the highest levels, with 30 percent of people at the front office being pushed out.
“We had to make some really tough decisions to survive,” he said.
“Friends that I had had for 20 years, I had them in my office and I was crying, making them redundant.”
A century of Qantas: from inland airline to global giant
He said his own salary was tied to Qantas’ performance, meaning he hadn’t taken home big bonuses as the airline struggled to stay solvent.
And Joyce said Qantas would hand out bonuses worth $200 million to all employees if the company could “turn around.”
He said that was the job he was committed to and that he aimed to stay on as CEO until at least the end of next year.
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