Vanessa Hudson

Vanessa Hudson took over as Qantas CEO in 2023 with a mandate to rebuild trust after the damaging tenure of her predecessor Alan Joyce. She’s now helped to turn Australia’s national carrier around, with post-tax profit of 1.6 billion Australian dollars ($1.2 billion) in its 2025 fiscal year, up 28%; revenue, at 21.9 billion Australian dollars ($17.3 billion), rose 8.6%. Hudson is now executing the largest fleet renewal in Qantas’s history, with 214 new aircraft on order, including new Project Sunrise A350 ultra-long-range jets that will connect Sydney to London and New York. Next up? A direct flight from Sydney to Las Vegas.