High-flying Hawaiian Airlines boss in race to pilot Virgin Australia
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High-flying Hawaiian Airlines boss in race to pilot Virgin Australia
The article talks about Mark Dunkerley, who retired from Hawaiian in March. He did amazing things with them, but I expect that Merryn will be the board's pick, despite her relative lack of achievements (IMHO) at the VA group.
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From the article:
Group executive John Thomas was in line to take the top Virgin job but he departed last year, and Tigerair boss Merryn McArthur has been cited as a strong possibility to take the Virgin Australia job, given her reputation as a popular leader.
I assume the three candidates are
CW
MD
RS
First two would be a step forward. Third fella...well yeah.....no thanks.
They need the expertise of CW to fix the Tiger mess which has dragged on a decade too long underperforming.
Then take it private and let SIA take the thing over.
CW
MD
RS
First two would be a step forward. Third fella...well yeah.....no thanks.
They need the expertise of CW to fix the Tiger mess which has dragged on a decade too long underperforming.
Then take it private and let SIA take the thing over.
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Tigerair boss Merryn McArthur has been cited as a strong possibility to take the Virgin Australia job, given her reputation as a popular leader.
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Tigerair boss Merryn McArthur has been cited as a strong possibility to take the Virgin Australia job, given her reputation as a popular leader.
Or is it a throw away line, a bit of virtue signalling to fill column width for an otherwise very poor choice, who appears to have one strong redeeming feature; gender?
10 years of consistent turnaround performance... And one blip.... ?!
The fasten seatbelts signs are flashing at Virgin Australia after its search for a new chief executive hit some unexpected turbulence.
Street Talk understands Virgin Australia's board was about to sign off on the appointment of former Hawaiian Airlines boss Mark Dunkerley, before a shocking and unexpected profit result from his former employer late last week prompted one final round of diligence.
Sources said Virgin Australia will ask Dunkerley for a please explain – and as long as he has a good explanation for Hawaiian Airlines' unexpected sales and earnings softness, then he expected to be steering the Australian airline in the new year. It is understood the first target Virgin Australia had in mind to replace outgoing boss John Borghetti (pictured) was an internal candidate.
It is understood the British born executive has already made plans to move to Australia to run Virgin Australia, but leave his family back in the United States. It means the CEO should have plenty of time to test his company's (and codeshare partners') services across the Pacific.
Dunkerley is said to be motivated by the challenge of running Virgin Australia's hefty P&L – which is fat at the top with almost $6 billion in revenue expected this financial year, but skinny at the bottom line. His job is to try and get more of that revenue flowing through to profit for shareholders.Shareholders are expected to be a big part of the focus. It is no secret that Virgin Australia is one of the most difficult companies to run in the country, with about 90 per cent of its issued equity owned by a handful of strategic investors. The strategics each have their own reasons for investing in the airline, as do minority investors. Bringing it all together is no easy task.
Sources said it had also not been an easy task for Virgin Australia to get the succession plan right. It is understood the first target they had in mind to replace outgoing boss John Borghetti was an internal candidate – John Thomas – however it didn't work out and he left in the middle of last year.
It has taken another 18 months to (just about) hire the next candidate, Dunkerley, who finished up at Hawaiian Airlines on March 1. His former employer has had a rocky run since he left. Its shares dropped heavily late last week when it revealed much softer-than-expected revenue for November, with weak demand and pricing for travel to and from the holiday destinations.
Virgin CEO search hits turbulence in final leg
By Sarah Thompson and Anthony Macdonald10 Dec 2018 — 12:15 AMThe fasten seatbelts signs are flashing at Virgin Australia after its search for a new chief executive hit some unexpected turbulence.
Street Talk understands Virgin Australia's board was about to sign off on the appointment of former Hawaiian Airlines boss Mark Dunkerley, before a shocking and unexpected profit result from his former employer late last week prompted one final round of diligence.
Sources said Virgin Australia will ask Dunkerley for a please explain – and as long as he has a good explanation for Hawaiian Airlines' unexpected sales and earnings softness, then he expected to be steering the Australian airline in the new year. It is understood the first target Virgin Australia had in mind to replace outgoing boss John Borghetti (pictured) was an internal candidate.
It is understood the British born executive has already made plans to move to Australia to run Virgin Australia, but leave his family back in the United States. It means the CEO should have plenty of time to test his company's (and codeshare partners') services across the Pacific.
Dunkerley is said to be motivated by the challenge of running Virgin Australia's hefty P&L – which is fat at the top with almost $6 billion in revenue expected this financial year, but skinny at the bottom line. His job is to try and get more of that revenue flowing through to profit for shareholders.Shareholders are expected to be a big part of the focus. It is no secret that Virgin Australia is one of the most difficult companies to run in the country, with about 90 per cent of its issued equity owned by a handful of strategic investors. The strategics each have their own reasons for investing in the airline, as do minority investors. Bringing it all together is no easy task.
Sources said it had also not been an easy task for Virgin Australia to get the succession plan right. It is understood the first target they had in mind to replace outgoing boss John Borghetti was an internal candidate – John Thomas – however it didn't work out and he left in the middle of last year.
It has taken another 18 months to (just about) hire the next candidate, Dunkerley, who finished up at Hawaiian Airlines on March 1. His former employer has had a rocky run since he left. Its shares dropped heavily late last week when it revealed much softer-than-expected revenue for November, with weak demand and pricing for travel to and from the holiday destinations.
It is no secret that Virgin Australia is one of the most difficult companies to run in the country, with about 90 per cent of its issued equity owned by a handful of strategic investors.
When you live....
I would hate to be in a position where one would have to try keep the Chinese happy, the Emiratis happy, the Singaporean’s happy as well as keeping Branson himself happy too. Plus the agreements with Delta! And all the shamozzle with AirNZ... And with different code share agreements, they all have different objectives and goals!
This is has been evident in the past with VA’s service to Abu Dhabi... to keep Etihad happy. Tasman services and some services being dropped to keep AirNZ happy in the past. And then services to LA to keep Delta happy. And now services to HKG to keep HNA happy (and they have even said this on record).
The only consistency has been their domestic operation.
I do not envy any CEO going into such an absurd shareholder tug of war.
Not sure about a 65/35 split being a "cosy duopoly" but yeah the domestic competition is definitely limited
Not sure about a 65/35 split being a "cosy duopoly" but yeah the domestic competition is definitely limited
I do not envy any CEO going into such an absurd shareholder tug of war.