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Qantas remains the fifth most distrusted brand in Australia, according to Roy Morgan research, though the pollster is seeing signs of recovery.
The Flying Kangaroo’s position in Australia’s top 10 most distrusted brands remains unchanged, behind the two major supermarkets, Facebook/Meta, and Optus, though its overall trust/distrust score has been improving over recent months.
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Formerly a highly trusted brand, Qantas saw its public image decline steadily during and after COVID-19 before suffering a massive hit in late 2023 with the ACCC’s “ghost flights” lawsuit and the subsequent resignation of chief executive Alan Joyce.
After another drop mid-last year with the release of Joe Aston’s book The Chairman’s Lounge, Qantas is now “clearly on the upswing”, according to Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine.
“The recovery of Qantas is following a trajectory that aligns closely with Roy Morgan’s Benchmark Recovery Rate, showing a near-consistent upward trend. Despite a temporary dip in March 2025, Qantas’ recovery has remained largely on track,” she said.
Qantas had been Australia’s second least trusted brand in June last year, improving to fourth in September and fifth in December. Its current position puts it lower than Telstra, Temu, Twitter/X, News Corp, and Tesla in Australia’s top 10 least trusted brands.
“The trust and distrust rankings indicate where brand reputation stand among all Australians, but to shape the future, a brand needs emotional alignment with the right customers in the right cultural moment,” social scientist Dr Ross Honeywill said in Roy Morgan’s latest trust and distrust webinar.
Speaking to Australian Aviation last year, Joe Aston argued that Qantas had lost Australia’s trust under Alan Joyce in the aftermath of COVID-19, when stories of delays, cancellations and lost baggage dominated the landscape alongside reports of soaring profits.
“I have in the book Qantas’ largest shareholder I talked to extensively, and quoted extensively, and he makes a good point that he thought Alan Joyce was so focused on delivering the turnaround of all turnarounds, a record profit and the biggest profit ever, that he lost track of the fact that maybe they should have made a little bit less,” he said.
“Would it have been that bad if they’d made $2 billion and they’d kept fares slightly saner? Maybe they reinvested in the number of staff in airport terminals and more people in the call centres, and reinvested in the catering, and done some of those things earlier.”
