Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce says he’s not going anywhere despite the public relations the national airline has had in recent months.
Announcing a billion-dollar loss for the company yesterday, Mr Joyce flagged fare increases of up to 20 per cent for international flights and 10 per cent for domestic flights.
The higher costs are meant to offset higher fuel prices.
Qantas has announced fare hikes due to the high cost of fuel. (9 News)
Joyce told Ben Fordham with 2GB that he and the airline should be judged by future performances.
“This is the most difficult period for the aviation industry,” he said.
“The restart has not been as smooth as we had hoped. We should do better and we will do better.”
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said the airline did what it had to do to survive. (AFR/Louie Douvis)
Asked how much he had gained by laying off workers during the pandemic, Mr Joyce said cuts had reached even the highest levels, with 30 per cent of people at head office being laid off.
“We had to make very difficult decisions to survive,” he said.
“Friends I’d had for 20 years, I had them in my office and I was crying, making them redundant.”
A century of Qantas: from domestic airline to global giant
He said his own pay was linked to Qantas’ performance, meaning he had not taken home any major bonuses as the airline struggled to stay afloat.
And Joyce said Qantas would hand out bonuses worth $200 million to all employees if the company could “turn itself around”.
He said this was the job he had committed to and that he aimed to stay on as chief executive until at least the end of next year.