Ex-Qantas boss fights to keep $16m payout
A $16m payment to former Qantas’ chief executive officer Alan Joyce is up in the air after the national carrier called in an independent consultant to review whether the payment should be made.
The Australian reported Qantas hired former Boston Consulting Group adviser Colin Carter to interview senior leaders at the airline on whether a series of high profile disasters under Joyce’s leadership warrants withholding his multimillion dollar bonus.
A Qantas spokesman told NewsWire that in recognition of the customer and brand impact of cumulative events last year, the board applied its discretion to reduce short term incentives for senior executives for FY23 by 20 per cent and withheld payment pending further information in relation to the ACCC Federal Court action and the outsourcing of ground handling.
“An independent review into these matters and a broader review of governance was commissioned by the board,” the spokesman said.
“ These will be considered in the coming months and any outcome in relation to executive remuneration will then be shared.”
According to The Australian, the controversial figure is “fighting hard” for his long-term bonus of almost $13.97m and another short term bonus of $2.19m, while a partial payment could also be considered.
Mr Joyce left the organisation in September 2023 two months ahead of schedule after a series of botched decisions left the national carrier red faced in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In August 2023, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) launched legal action in the Federal Court against the airline, claiming it sold more than 8,000 “ghost flights” to customers for flights that had already been cancelled.
Qantas admitted it misled customers and paid up to $450 in compensation to passengers affected by its flight cancellation policy.
Just two months earlier, Mr Joyce pocketed almost $17m after he sold most of his 2.5 million Qantas shares, which he had accumulated since 2012 after becoming chief executive.
The company also faced a mountain of public scrutiny for the way it handled flight refunds for services that were cancelled or disrupted during Covid-19, forcing the company to abolish expiry dates on refunds after the company refused to payback customers for flights that failed to take off during the pandemic, and for making flight credits difficult to claim.
During the pandemic, Qantas also illegally sacked 1,700 ground staff after the airline decided the financial benefits of saving $100m outweighed the risks of firing its workers and outsourcing their roles to third party contractors.
When Mr Joyce announced his resignation from Qantas he said recent events had made it clear the company needed to prioritise and “move ahead with its renewal”.
“The best thing I can do under these circumstances is to bring forward my retirement and hand over to Vanessa and the new management team now, knowing they will do an excellent job,” he said.
