Next Qantas CEO: Vanessa Hudson

[levelnine]

At BA, a dynamic has emerged whereby the previous CEO gets the blame for everything bad with the airline, even where it is arguably unjustified.

BA throws Alex Cruz under a bus in a Sunday Times interview

There is a fascinating interview in The Sunday Times today with Sean Doyle, Chairman and CEO of British Airways, blaming previous CEO Alex Cruz for, well, everything.

www.headforpoints.com

Makes one wonder if AJ will be QF's scapegoat going forward. I assume it will be fairly easy to blame him for any operational problems that occur in future years because the post-COVID debacles can be trotted out as examples of how AJ ran the airline poorly.

 

[RooFlyer]

Makes one wonder if AJ will be QF's scapegoat going forward. I assume it will be fairly easy to blame him for any operational problems that occur in future years because the post-COVID debacles can be trotted out as examples of how AJ ran the airline poorly.

I don't think so. The rest of the board is the same and the new CEO was promoted from within; whilst they could blame AJ, some of the dirt would rub off on them.

I pointed out above (or in a related thread) that one of the benefits of promoting from within is that you don't get someone at the top who CAN blame all and sundry beforehand (including the Board) and justify a 'fresh start'.

In the BA example, there was also the former Chairman, Willie Walsh to tar along with Cruz.

 

[MooTime]

Well the future CEO will have the burden of cost of all the new aircraft AJ had ordered.
He instead made the books look good without these huge costs, hence rewarding himself with huge free shares.

Her made his bed.

 

[PlaneCrazy]

At BA, a dynamic has emerged whereby the previous CEO gets the blame for everything bad with the airline, even where it is arguably unjustified.

BA throws Alex Cruz under a bus in a Sunday Times interview

There is a fascinating interview in The Sunday Times today with Sean Doyle, Chairman and CEO of British Airways, blaming previous CEO Alex Cruz for, well, everything.

www.headforpoints.com

Makes one wonder if AJ will be QF's scapegoat going forward. I assume it will be fairly easy to blame him for any operational problems that occur in future years because the post-COVID debacles can be trotted out as examples of how AJ ran the airline poorly.

Isn't this the textbook approach? Over a long tenure stretch the interpretation of accounting standards and make decisions that maximise your KPIs/bonus, underinvest and postpone the inevitable. Leave with a fat pay cheque to have the next CEO reset the books, clear out all the creative accounting and pave the way for it all to happen again.

 

[siri]

Creative CFO can be on CEO chair if the person is with 360 vision rather than cost, cost... If old school method of cutting 20% Opex to improve the numbers will not work with an airline since human factor and international service factors are quite complex.
I believe major airlines should avoid hiring low cost airline CEO's since it does not mix..

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Maybe its good that she is the new CEO designate, ie, she knows how the whole airline operates, rather than bringing someone new in (ie someone from outside the QF group), who would have to learn the ropes and given time to acclaimatize.
But then too, she has been CFO for a while, so she is used to keeping costs low.
In the end, I don't see a lot of major changes, or any improvements that entail spendings.
It will be tight, finance wise.

 

[Jean Prouvaire]

Leave with a fat pay cheque to have the next CEO reset the books, clear out all the creative accounting and pave the way for it all to happen again.

Indeed. Didn't Joyce write down the value of the Qantas fleet by about two and a half billion, a few years after he commenced as CEO?

 

[TiredOldFlyer]

In the "good old days", whilst working for a large Public Company,
I have always remembered the topic of my first training program :-
"NOTHING HAPPENS UNTIL A SALE IS MADE"
It is up to the CEO to provide the tools
and the positive attitude so this mantra flows throughout a business.

 

[RooFlyer]

ie someone from outside the QF group), who would have to learn the ropes and given time to acclaimatize.

The point of a new CEO from outside the group wouldn’t be to learn the ropes, but to redesign the ropes.

But then too, she has been CFO for a while, so she is used to keeping costs low.

And screwing the customers.

 

[SydneySwan]

And screwing the customers.

Indeed!

 

[AIRwin]

screwing the customers

SC = Screwing Customers

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

I would bet a lot of things that AJ has done as current CEO, and sooner former CEO, would have had to pass the desk of VH as CFO.
A wink and a nod, or written down in minutes, but only for those Authorized to have a look see.
Like a few years ago, when ADL - SYD used to have an SC earn of 15 in Y, and its now only a measly 10.
Probably before AJ's time, but it would have had to have been approved by more than one person at QF.