The string of scandals at Australia’s largest airline may have claimed another head.
On Wednesday, Qantas Airways chairman Richard Goyder announced that he would retire from his post in 2024, ahead of the annual general meeting that year. The airline’s board said it recognized “the reputational issues” facing the company. Goyder has been chairman since 2018.
Goyder is the second high-profile leader to exit the airline. In September, then-CEO Alan Joyce stepped down from his post two months ahead of schedule, as his position became untenable due to growing public and political frustration with his leadership.
Investors may be ready to turn the page on Qantas’s scandals. Shares were trading up by about 2% following the announcement of Goyder’s planned retirement.
Goyder’s announcement is “a bit of a sigh of relief” for institutional investors, Jessica Amir, an Australia-based markets strategist with the trading platform MooMoo, says. “Investors want a chairman and CEO that is accountable and can rebuilt trust,” she says.
“It’s been hard to keep up with the internal drama at Qantas,” she continues.
Qantas and its flying kangaroo logo has long been an Australian icon, but the airline’s standing has diminished in the wake of multiple scandals.
Earlier this year, the airline announced its first annual profit since 2019, reporting a record $1.59 billion in profits before tax—an impressive turnaround from a loss of $1.19 billion the year before. But the bumper profits opened up the airline to public and political scrutiny, particularly on consumer and labor issues.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) took Qantas to court at the end of August for selling seats on more than 8,000 canceled flights between May and July last year. The ACCC accused the airline of continuing to sell tickets for as much as over a month after cancelling the flight.
Then last month, Australia’s top court ruled that a Qantas decision to replace 1,700 ground crew with contractors early in the pandemic was illegal.
Politicians are also concerned about how much influence the carrier has in the country’s politics. Earlier this week, an Australian Senate committee recommended that the government review a decision to deny Qatar Airways from adding extra flights to the country, allegedly made to protect Qantas.
Qantas’s run of scandals has already ousted one executive. The airline’s CEO Alan Joyce prematurely left the company on Sept. 6, two months earlier than planned.
Joyce’s departure was a reflection of the public’s growing anger with the airline. For almost his entire 15-year tenure as CEO, Joyce was seen as a controversial, ruthless and hard-edged executive.
While some praised Joyce for steering the airline through the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, he made enemies with unions due to a series of job and cost cuts. More recently, he became a target for public criticism as the airline struggled to cope with a sudden post-COVID rebound in demand.
Goyder could follow in Joyce’s wake and also have an earlier-than-planned exit. Australia’s Transport Workers Union, in a statement on Wednesday, called Goyder’s planned retirement an “attempt to retire in dignity,” and demand he follow Joyce in leaving the company early.
Five directors, including the current CEO Vanessa Hudson, will compete in an election for the chairman role on Nov. 3 at Qantas’ annual general meeting.
