Alan Joyce | |
|---|---|
 Joyce in 2014 | |
| Born | 30 June 1966 (age 58) |
| Nationality | Irish-Australian |
| Education | |
| Occupations |
|
| Organisation | Qantas |
| Spouse | Shane Lloyd (m. 2019) |
Alan Joseph Joyce (born 30 June 1966 [1] ) is an Irish-Australian businessman. He was the chief executive officer (CEO) of Qantas Airways Limited from 2008 until his resignation on September 5, 2023. [2]
Joyce was born and raised in Tallaght, now a suburb of Dublin, Ireland. His mother was a cleaner, and his father worked in a tobacco factory. Joyce attended secondary school at St Mark's Community School in Springfield, Tallaght. [1]
Joyce attended Dublin Institute of Technology and Trinity College Dublin. He graduated with Honours, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Science (Physics and Mathematics) and a Master of Science degree in Management Science. He is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. [3]
In 1988, Joyce commenced work at Aer Lingus, the flag carrier of Ireland. He held various positions in sales, marketing, information technology, network planning, operations research, revenue management and fleet planning. [3] In 1996, he resigned to join the now-defunct Ansett Australia. [4] In 2000, Joyce joined Qantas. [5] At both Ansett Australia and Qantas, he headed the Network Planning, Schedules Planning and Network Strategy functions. [3] Joyce was appointed CEO of Qantas subsidiary Jetstar Airways in October 2003. [3] [6]
Joyce became CEO of Qantas on November 28, 2008. He succeeded Geoff Dixon, who had been in the role since March 2001. [7] Joyce is a former director of Orangestar Investment Holdings Pte Limited (holding company of Singapore-based Jetstar Asia Airways and Valuair) and Jetstar Pacific Airlines Aviation Joint Stock Company (in Vietnam). [3] [6]
In 2010, a Senate inquiry into airline safety in low-cost airline practices was called. Joyce was called to testify regarding a 2007 incident that had occurred when he was CEO of Jetstar. [8] [9] [10]
On 25 February 2011, at his first hearing at the Senate inquiry, Joyce insisted safety was aligned in the Qantas Group. He closed his opening statement with "Let me make this clear: at Jetstar there is no compromise on safety. The budget airline model does not require it, and we would never accept it. Qantas and Jetstar have different brands, but are completely aligned on safety. We would never compromise that." [11]
On 24 June 2011, The Sydney Morning Herald reported, "Qantas and Jetstar intend to press ahead with their plans to fast-track relatively inexperienced co-pilots into airliner cockpits, despite a parliamentary inquiry yesterday finding against the practice", while also noting that the Civil Aviation Safety Authority had argued that "there is no evidence to suggest that [the cadet training schemes] approach has resulted in any diminution of safety standards". [12]
On 29 October 2011, as a result of continuing industrial unrest following the announcement of job losses and structural changes at Qantas, Joyce grounded the entire Qantas mainline fleet. [13]
The Australian named Joyce the most influential business leader in 2011. [14] Yet a poll following his controversial 2011 grounding of the Qantas fleet showed the action has increased negative public perception of the airline. [15] In 2011, Joyce's remuneration was increased 71 percent from $2.92 million in 2009–10 to $5.01 million and he was granted 1.7 million Qantas shares under a long-term incentive plan. [16] His reported comments that his salary was "conservative" were criticised by the Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA). [17]
The Guardian reported Joyce's total pay package had doubled to $24.6 million for the 2016-17 financial year, nearly twice as much as the $12.96m he received in the previous 12 months. [18] This followed the airline announcing it will cut 5000 full-time jobs to achieve $2bn in cost reductions by the same financial year. [19]
On 9 May 2017, Joyce was delivering a speech to a business breakfast event in Perth, when a lemon meringue pie was pushed into his face by Tony Overheu, a Western Australian farmer and Christian. [20] Overheu subsequently apologised for humiliating the CEO, claiming that he pied the business figure due to his personal belief that Joyce had overstepped the line in his gay marriage advocacy and the assailant's response simply reflected community push-back. He was later convicted of common assault, trespass, causing damage to property and giving false details to police. [21] [22] [23]
In May 2019, Joyce committed to three more years as the chief executive of Qantas. [24] In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Joyce gave up his salary for the rest of the financial year. [25] In May 2023, Joyce announced that he would step aside as Qantas CEO in November, being replaced by Vanessa Hudson, the group's then current CFO. [26] In September 2023, it was reported that the company allegedly continued to sell tickets for flights after they had been cancelled. [27] Several media articles, notably from journalist Joe Aston in the Australian Financial Review , were critical of Joyce's handling of these revelations and transparency from the airline. [28] Joyce resigned early as a result, on September 5, 2023. Hudson succeeded him the following day. [2]
In January 2024, Alan also resigned from the Sydney Theatre company. [29]
Joyce identifies as being Catholic. In 2015, he became a member of the Australian Republic Movement, which argues that Australia should replace the monarchy to become a republic with an Australian head of state.
In 2011, he was successfully treated for prostate cancer. [35]
Joyce and his long-term New Zealander partner, Shane Lloyd, married on November 2, 2019, on the rooftop of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Circular Quay. [36] [37] The couple live in the Rocks, an inner suburb of Sydney. [37]
Joyce has been outspoken in supporting the LGBTI community. He personally donated $1 million towards the campaign to legalise same-sex marriage in Australia, [38] which facilitated his own marriage in 2019. Joyce is the patron of the Pinnacle Foundation, an organisation which works with "disadvantaged and marginalised LGBT Australians". [39] For his work, he has been recognised on a global list of LGBT executives. [40] As Qantas CEO, Joyce pledged Qantas would "continue social-justice campaigning". [41] [38] [31]
Qantas Airways Limited, or simply Qantas, is the flag carrier of Australia, and the largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations in Australia and Oceania. A founding member of the Oneworld airline alliance, it is the only airline in the world that flies to all seven continents, with it operating flights to Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Europe, North America and South America from its hubs in Sydney, Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane. It also flies to over 60 domestic destinations across Australia.
Australian Airlines was a full-service airline based in Australia, serving Australian and Asian destinations between 2002 and 2006. It was an all-economy, full-service international leisure carrier, and was a wholly owned subsidiary of Qantas. Its main hub was at Cairns Airport, with a secondary hub at Sydney Airport.
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Jetstar Asia Airways Pte Ltd is a Singaporean low-cost airline headquartered at Changi Airport. It operates services to regional destinations in Southeast Asia to countries such as Myanmar, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. It also flies to regional routes in East Asia such as Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
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Eastern Australia Airlines Pty Ltd is an airline based on the grounds of Sydney Airport in Mascot, New South Wales, Australia. It is a regional domestic airline serving sixteen destinations within Australia under the QantasLink banner. Its main base is Sydney Airport, with a hub at Melbourne Airport.
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Qantas Freight is a subsidiary company of Australia's largest airline Qantas, responsible for the air cargo operations of the Qantas group. It is the owner of freight airline Express Freighters Australia, freight forwarder Qantas Courier and trucking company Jets Transport Express. Qantas Freight was also a partner in two joint ventures with Australia Post: Australian airExpress, specialising in door-to-door package delivery, and StarTrack, a road freight company. In November 2012 Qantas Freight fully acquired Australia air Express and divested its shareholding in Star Track to Australia Post. Qantas Freight was also the owner of Asian-based freight forwarder DPEXWorldwide until that company was acquired by its competitor Toll Holdings in 2010. Qantas Freight is also responsible for placing freight in the hold of Qantas and Jetstar operated international and domestic services.
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Qantas Flight 32 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight from London to Sydney via Singapore. On 4 November 2010, the aircraft operating the route, an Airbus A380, suffered an uncontained failure in one of its four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines. The failure occurred over the Riau Islands, Indonesia, four minutes after takeoff from Singapore Changi Airport. After holding for almost two hours to assess the situation, the aircraft made a successful emergency landing at Changi. No injuries occurred to the passengers, crew, or people on the ground, despite debris from the aircraft falling onto houses in Batam.
Jetstar Japan is a Japanese low-cost airline headquartered in Narita, Chiba Prefecture. The airline serves destinations across the Asia-Pacific region, using a fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft. It is a joint venture between Qantas, Japan Airlines and Tokyo Century Corporation, who own 33.3%, 50% and 16.7% stakes respectively.
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Vanessa Hudson is an Australian business executive and CEO of Qantas. She became Qantas CEO in September 2023, succeeding Alan Joyce after his abrupt resignation.
Georgina Sutton is an Australian aviator and former police officer from Adelaide, best known for being the first woman to be appointed as chief pilot for an Australian airline. Sutton began her aviation journey at 16 years old by flying gliders. Having obtained her power licence, she joined South Australia Police to fund her commercial pilot licence. Sutton commenced her aviation career flying small propeller aircraft for a regional airline before accepting a job with Qantas as a second officer on the Boeing 747 in 1989. During her time flying the 747, Sutton was promoted to first officer and in 1992, flew Queen Elizabeth II from London to Singapore. She became fleet captain for the Boeing 767 in 2014, which at the time was the highest position held by a female pilot at a major Australian airline. In 2015, she made history as the first woman to serve as chief pilot for Jetstar Airways. Sutton returned to Qantas in 2017 as a manager of base operations. Outside of her career, she is married and enjoys water-skiing.