Qantas ‘might not have survived’ without Joyce, says chairman

In an opening address to the airline’s AGM, John Mullen acknowledged that 2023 was a “very difficult year” but insisted the difficulties and reputational damage are being “comprehensively addressed”.

“Let us not forget that Alan was CEO for fifteen years and in that time delivered many years of exceptional results to the benefit of shareholders and other stakeholders,” he said at the end of his speech.

“Richard [Goyder, the former chairman] and Alan steered Qantas through the dark and difficult days of COVID during which, without their leadership, Qantas might well have not survived, and we might not all be here today.”

Mullen’s backing of the controversial ex-CEO significantly comes days before an apparent expose of the airline and Joyce’s tenure is released by former columnist for The Australian Financial Review, Joe Aston.

It also follows the release of a governance review earlier this year that concluded that one cause of Qantas’ 2023 problems was Joyce’s “top-down leadership” style.

“There is no pretending that last year was anything other than a very difficult year for Qantas,” Mullen said at the gathering in Hobart.

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“I will not go through the various challenges that the company experienced as they have been widely reported in the press and elsewhere.

“But what I can tell you with conviction is that firstly Qantas and Jetstar have always been and remain excellent airlines. The group’s reputation for safety and operational excellence has remained first class throughout even the most difficult of times.

“And secondly, I can assure you that the issues that caused the difficulties and reputational damage last year have been and are being comprehensively addressed.

“An important part of strengthening the foundations was understanding what went wrong.

“Last year, my predecessor Richard Goyder instigated an independent Board Governance Review. The review, led by experienced business adviser Tom Saar, has been crucial to understanding how Qantas can improve and avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.

“We were fully transparent as to the issues of last year and we have committed to some 32 key changes in the governance of the airline.

“While in no way shying away from the past, however it is time now to put this period behind us and to move on, to look forward to the future and to focus on the exciting opportunities that lie ahead for Qantas.”

Australian Aviation also reported in September how ex-chairman Goyder himself backed Joyce’s apparent “command and control” management style during COVID-19, despite its criticism.

Speaking after the governance report’s publication, Goyder argued a top-down approach was necessary during COVID-19 but agreed with criticism the company didn’t do enough to revert to normal when the pandemic ended.

“That [criticism] is absolutely valid,” he told The Australian Financial Review. “We had tightened up on so many things, nobody could spend a cent, it was all about liquidity. The number one rule of business: don’t run out of cash.

“As we came out, we had probably a coincidence of people who decided not to come back to Qantas, and we still had very tight controls because we needed to, because the balance sheet had been really knocked about.

“We probably didn’t give our frontline people the capacity to deal with the myriad issues which came along. Our customers, rightly, felt that we weren’t responsive enough. In hindsight, you would do it differently, but it was difficult at the time.”