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Alan Joyce (businessman)

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For the footballer, see Alan Joyce (footballer).

Alan Joyce
AC FTSE
Joyce in 2014
Born30 June 1966 (1966-06-30) (age 58)
Tallaght, Dublin, Ireland
NationalityIrish-Australian
Education
Occupations
OrganisationQantas
Spouse
Shane Lloyd
​
(m. 2019)​

Alan Joseph Joyce AC FTSE (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]

Early life and education

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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]

Career

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Early career

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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]

CEO of Qantas

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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]

2010–2011 Senate inquiry on airline safety

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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]

2011 Qantas industrial disputes

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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]

2016–2017 company restructuring

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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]

2017 pie attack incident

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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]

Later years and retirement

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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]

Honours and awards

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Personal life

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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]

LGBTI advocacy

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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]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Arlidge, John (8 April 2018). "Strewth, I shrunk the world, says Qantas boss Alan Joyce". The Sunday Times.
  2. ^ a b McGuire, Amelia (5 September 2023). "Alan Joyce to leave Qantas early". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e "IATA Official web site". Iata.org. 4 December 2012. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  4. ^ O'Sullivan, Matt. "Joyce ready for great leap at Qantas", The Sydney Morning Herald'. Rretrieved 27 November 2009.
  5. ^ Fenner, Robert (27 July 2008). "Qantas Says Joyce to Succeed Dixon as Chief Executive". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  6. ^ a b "BusinessWeek web site". BusinessWeek. Investing.businessweek.com. Archived from the original on 3 July 2009. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  7. ^ "How Geoff Dixon's millions grounded Qantas". Crikey. 22 September 2009. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  8. ^ Go-around event – Melbourne Airport, Victoria – 21 July 2007 – VH-VQT, Airbus Industrie A320-232 (PDF). ACT, Australia: Australian Transport Safety Bureau. 24 February 2010. ISBN 978-1-74251-038-5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 April 2010.
  9. ^ "How Jetstar came close to disaster in 2007". Crikey. Archived from the original on 9 March 2021. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
  10. ^ "Xenophon takes aim at airline standards in a bid to stop the rot on training levels". The Australian. 19 September 2010. Archived from the original on 19 September 2010. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
  11. ^ "Pilot training and airline safety including consideration of the Transport Safety Investigation Amendment (Incident Reports) Bill 2010". www.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  12. ^ Heasley, Andrew (23 June 2011). "Airlines dismiss training warning". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  13. ^ Staff writers (29 October 2011) "Shock as Qantas chief Alan Joyce grounds airline's domestic and international fleet". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). Retrieved 29 October 2011
  14. ^ a b Narayanan Somasundaram (9 March 2012). "Blow for Qantas as talks with Malaysian Airlines end". Reuters.
  15. ^ Creedy, Steve (28 February 2012). "Poll undermines Qantas CEO's claim that grounding was positive". The Australian.[dead link‍]
  16. ^ Christian, Kim (29 October 2011). "Joyce's pay soars as costs mount". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  17. ^ Neuman, Zoe (1 April 2012). "Alan Joyce's $5m pay shot down by Qantas pilots". The Sunday Telegraph. Sydney.
  18. ^ Farrer, Martin (15 September 2017). "Qantas boss Alan Joyce's pay packet nearly doubles in year to $25m". The Guardian Australia.
  19. ^ Hurst, Daniel (27 February 2014). "Qantas to axe 5,000 jobs in $2bn cost-cutting drive". The Guardian Australia.
  20. ^ "Qantas chief Alan Joyce gets pie in face at Perth business breakfast", www.abc.net.au retrieved 9 May 2017.
  21. ^ Paul Garvey (10 May 2017). "Joyce pieman a church-going National". The Australian. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  22. ^ "Man launched pie at Qantas chief Alan Joyce 'to oppose gay marriage'". ABC News. Australia. 10 May 2017. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  23. ^ Menagh, Joanna (7 July 2017). "Alan Joyce pie-thrower fined, 'banished from church'". ABC News. Australia. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  24. ^ "Dubliner Alan Joyce commits to Qantas for at least 3 more years". The Irish Times. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  25. ^ Bradley, Grant (9 March 2020). "Coronavirus: Qantas boss Alan Joyce gives up salary for rest of the financial year". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  26. ^ "Irish man Alan Joyce to step aside after 15 years as Qantas CEO". RTÉ News. 2 May 2023. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
  27. ^ Cherney, Mike. "Qantas CEO Quits After Airline Allegedly Sold Tickets for Canceled Flights". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
  28. ^ Jaspan, Calum (22 January 2024). "Former AFR columnist to write book on Alan Joyce's final years at Qantas". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  29. ^ "Former Qantas Chief Alan Joyce resigns from Sydney Theatre Company". The Australian. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  30. ^ "All Fellows". Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering. 2012. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  31. ^ a b c Steffens, Miriam; Hatch, Patrick (11 June 2017). "Order of Australia: Same-sex marriage support pays off for Qantas, Joyce says". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  32. ^ "Ambassadors – About". Australian Indigenous Education Foundation. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  33. ^ "Companion of the Order of Australia entry for Mr Alan Joseph JOYCE". Australian Honours Database. Canberra, Australia: Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 12 June 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  34. ^ "Joyce named a Companion of the Order of Australia". Australian Aviation. 12 June 2017. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  35. ^ Easdown, Geoff (10 May 2011). "Qantas chief Alan Joyce back after life-saving surgery". AdelaideNow. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
  36. ^ "Qantas boss Alan Joyce marries partner of 20 years". News.com.au. 2 November 2019. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  37. ^ a b Snow, Deborah (8 October 2011). "Staying the course". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 8 October 2011.
  38. ^ a b "Alan Joyce takes on new public role with LGBTI organisation". News.com. 18 August 2018.
  39. ^ Hoppe, Andrew (16 August 2018). "Alan Joyce becomes a Patron of The Pinnacle Foundation". The Pinnacle Foundation.
  40. ^ "Qantas boss tops LGBT leaders list for backing same-sex marriage in Australia". The Guardian. 26 October 2017.
  41. ^ Jones, Jesse (9 May 2019). "Alan Joyce Qantas will continue social-justice campaigning". Star Observer.

Further reading

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  • Harbison, Peter; Sadubin, Derek (2023). Alan Joyce and Qantas: The Trials and Transformation of an Australian Icon. Penguin. ISBN 9781761345296.
Business positions
New airline CEO of Jetstar Airways
2003–2008 		Succeeded by
Bruce Buchanan
Preceded by CEO of Qantas
2008–2023 		Succeeded by
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