From todays Fin Review
Can Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce really survive another year? At every turn, he has been outmanoeuvred by John Borghetti at upstart rival Virgin Australia. In his five years at the helm of the airline, Joyce has touted several Asian strategies, none of which worked. He stubbornly wrote off the Gulf as a hub right up until the moment he got into bed with Emirates. And it seems that was no panacea as he heads towards a massive 2013-14 loss. He steadfastly clings to his 65 per cent “line in the sand” market share target, even when it drives down Qantas yields, and then accuses Virgin of capacity dumping.
But most tiresome have been the desperately manufactured diversions from his own underperformance. One day he’s begging for a Canberra bailout, the next he’s running full-page ads telling customers everything’s peachy. Huh? Competition regulator Rod Sims (aka the Viscount of Vaucluse) has been investigating Qantas since August for potential misuse of its market power (at least when he’s not distracted by the bottleshop wars in Lindisfarne, Tasmania).
Yet Joyce’s saving grace may be the obstinacy of his chairman, Big Leigh Clifford. He doesn’t seem too ruffled by the recent tumult – on the day Standard & Poor’s downgraded the airline to junk status, he was playing 36 holes of golf at Royal Melbourne. *Outstanding.