So, some context;
JT and JB have been life long friends; even when JB was at QF, he would use JT's consulting firm for many a large project.
When JB was 'overlooked' for the CEO gig at QF (& the chip on the shoulder started) he asked JT for work. JT found him a job on the board of a thai airline (sorry forgot the name).
JT had done much work with Virgin Atlantic and knew Branson.
When the Virgin CEO head-hunt was on, JT's firm was involved in the process; naturally with his connections, JT recommended his friend JB.
Fast-forward a few years to a point where Virgin was needing success planning for a new CEO. JB tapped JT again for some help in finding a new COO etc. And the end of the search it became clear that no standout candidate existed that would appease the multitude of investors. After JT presented this information to the board, they and JB pleaded with JT to take the job.
JT was very reluctant, it was a significant pay cut to come back to OZ plus his wife and children were all with him in Boston. JT saw the potential in Virgin as an industry turn-around icon (also merger king [united/continental, delta/north-west & american/us-airways - all having been run out of LEK's offices in Boston]). He also had the respect of Air NZ, Etihad, Singapore airlines etc.
On the "going away" party from LEK - his old team was surprised to find out that JT's wife was only told the night of. So off JT came, alone, to setup shop in Sydney for the past 6 months. All crew will attest that he was committed to bring back the work-life balance in rostering and to improve the operational bottom line of the airline. He was shocked at how poorly it was being run. So began the process of data analytics to track and measure this poor performance. This started to reflect poorly on JB as the pattern showed that under his leadership the airline was operating at it's worst since inception (fiscally, staff engagement and also operational complexity [i.e. Ansett]).
Things were afoot - Virgin's order for the A330NEO; potential A330 ops to LAX to supplement the 777 until more 777s could be financed; the introduction of economy x; the removal of the proposed A330 flights to AUH; the removal of the E-Jets due to extraordinary high lease prices (think more than a B738 - talking about lease prices, Virgin got the A330s when the 787s were delayed from boeing (worldwide) and as a consequence the leases on these machines are just insanely high.); the move in to Hong Kong & his project to introduce a lay-flat business class product on the 737 for perth flights. There was much more coming including a totally new rostering and bidding system for crew as he discovered just how poorly the over-priced current system does the job.
Now- I don't exactly what was said and what was the trigger but I do know that after all of this history, JB "the narcissist" snapped and fired JT on the spot. This was a week after JT bought a place in Sydney and his family had started the move to SYD (university's etc).
My take; this is terrible for my friends and colleagues at Virgin.
If you didn't respect JB before this, there is no way you will after this information.
I think we all miss the days of the hangar parties and bomber jackets.