Qantas CEO rejects calls to resign by raising fares by 20% and cutting flights

• qantas

  IATA/ICAO code:

  QF/QFA

  Airline type:

  Full service carrier

  Center(s):

  Brisbane Airport, Melbourne Airport, Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport

  Foundation year:

  1920

  Alliance:

  a world

  CEO:

  Alan Joyce

  Country:

  Australia

As commentators and the public digest the huge losses Qantas has suffered over the past three years, two points stand out. The first is that calls for CEO Alan Joyce to resign are falling on deaf ears, and the second is that higher fees are his chosen way out of losses.

Yesterday, Qantas posted a statutory loss of AU$1.19 billion ($821 million) for fiscal 2022. It is the third year in a row that Qantas has lost more than AU$1 billion ($690 million), with losses of the COVID era now close to $7 billion ($4.82). b). In her report, Joyce said: “This brings our total losses since the start of the pandemic to over A$7 billion ($4.83 billion) and brings lost revenue to over A$25 billion ( $17.25 billion.) To put that in perspective, on a legal basis, COVID cost us more money in the last three years than we made in the previous five years.”

Jetstar is the answer to higher Qantas fares

In fiscal 2022, Qantas Domestic lost A$765 million ($528 million) and Jetstar A$795 million ($548 million), with International also losing money. The fuel bill is A$1bn ($690m) more than in 2019, and Joyce said tariffs would have to rise if Qantas wants to turn a profit again. It is increasing domestic rates by 10% and international rates by 20%, while reducing domestic capacity to 93% of 2019 levels, up from 110% in April. Ever the master of diversion, Joyce noted that anyone looking for cheap fares could find them on Jetstar. “Jetstar is estimated to carry 13 million people next year, with five million of them traveling, even in this oil price environment, for less than $100 and ten million traveling for less than $200.”

Joyce didn’t shy away from issues of poor performance, saying the pandemic had tested everyone and “we’re the first to admit we didn’t get it all right. But we’re not holding back, we’ve been out there apologizing for the mistakes we’ve made in not deliver what customers expect of us. When asked about the calls for his resignation, Joyce responded:

“It’s part of the job. You recognize in this job that Qantas is loved so passionately by a lot of Australians, it’s the national airline, it’s a company that people think of as iconic, so you get the ups and downs associated with that.”

More Dreamliners for the 16-hour flight to JFK

On a brighter note, Qantas announced new service from Auckland (AKL) to New York’s JFK Airport (JFK), though it won’t take off until June next year. Flights from Australia will connect to the new route, eliminating the dreaded transit through Los Angeles (LAX). The 16-hour flight will be operated by Boeing B787 Dreamliners, with three new planes due for delivery before the end of June. Qantas already has a fleet of 11 B787-9s with an average age of just 3.4 years.

Joyce has been in charge of Qantas for 14 years and weathered some pretty tough storms along the way. Adding to the external shocks, he decided in 2011 to ground the entire Qantas fleet during negotiations with workers. Many people wanted him fired then and now they are calling for his resignation. Public and media sentiment is against Joyce, not only because of the huge losses, but even more so because of the chaotic way the airline has treated passengers since the borders reopened.

When the first signs of chaos emerged at Easter, Joyce fanned the flames by blaming the long queues on “passengers who were in no condition to travel”. It took months for Qantas to acknowledge the pain it was causing customers, and Joyce finally issued her mea culpa apology this week.

He bristled when asked if the airline’s poor performance put customers at risk of switching to Virgin Australia or Rex, though he admitted Qantas’s reputation had taken a hit over the past year. Adding that Virgin’s performance was “just as bad”, he said: “This is an industry problem, let’s not pretend it’s just a Qantas problem. Our competitive position, if anything, is getting stronger, and the cuts of capacity that we are doing are happening. across the industry.”

To our Qantas passengers for their feedback.