Qantas International CEO resigns

[Hvr]

The boss of Qantas' international operations has resigned after only a year and a half in the senior position.

The airline said on Thursday morning that Alison Webster's last day as chief executive of Qantas International would be April 24. No explanation for the departure was given.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/com...s-alison-webster-resigns-20190411-p51d3a.html

So any idea what the implications are for Qantas or why she would be resigning so soon into her term?

 

[TheInsider]

So according to the Qantas Media Room and The Age, Qantas International boss Alison Webster has resigned from the role.
Has only been there for a year and a half.
Seems like a strange move to resign only after that short time with 'no explanation given'.
Maybe the house of cards are starting to fall apart. Maybe people are getting sick of not enough action and are fed up with the smoke and mirrors of it all.

https://www.theage.com.au/business/...s-alison-webster-resigns-20190411-p51d3a.html

 

[TheInsider]

Seems very strange. I reckon a clash of ideas or the complete no action and frustration of doing anything 'good' for QFi and the fact everything takes so long to get through to AJ and the board.

 

[pm3207]

She did seem very low key for the leader of QF international. Very rarely heard from her versus the profile of say Gareth Evans, her predecessor.

Whether that was her natural style or foist upon her would be interesting to know.

 

[jb747]

She must have voiced an opinion different to AJ. That’s proven fatal for any number of execs in the past.

 

[cpatters]

Could be because of the delayed A380 refurbishment not achieving the original start date of March 2019!

 

[pmdg7444]

could be because "mains" in J class are still served on plates no bigger than a saucer

 

[docjames]

Usually executives depart for one of a few reasons (IMO).

- didn't like the job
- poor performance (either individually or carrying the can for a poor divisional/company performance)
- came with view to a higher role (eg. CEO) and now it's apparent that isn't going to happen so they depart
- get poached by someone else
- personal issues (family, health etc)
- retirement (end of lifelong career)


Sometimes the above overlap but usually one largely drives the departure.

Who knows which applies here - it usually washes out with time. It must be incredibly stressful at a personal level. But of course also opens an opportunity for someone.

 

[TheInsider]

Not my post, but a copy and paste from PPRuNe:

Apparently "Ally" recently presented to Alan and the EXCO detailed analysis of the loss of revenue caused of loss of seats on specific routes after the retirement of the 747 and replacement by 787 capacity.

She specifically highlighted JNB and HND. This presentation was based on work completed by the former head of strategy who was punted under similar circumstances - that is, he was in favour of expanding the Qantas mainline business. As long time followers / sufferers of QF know - having such a position inside the business is tantamount to corporate suicide under the current senior leadership.

Anyhow the overall theme of Ally's proposal was that Qantas needs to order more 787s and go firm or otherwise on the A350-1000 for project sunrise in order to remain competitive and to not give away any more market share to competitors.

This (unfortunately for Ally) goes against Alans overall scheme to 'gaslight' Qantas mainline capacity whilst still quietly growing JQ international and the JQ asian businesses.

As with what happened to Boston Bruce, she has been immediately rissholed from the company. She is already on 'gardening leave' and had her passes and access taken from her on the day she was fired by Alan.

https://www.pprune.org/australia-new-zealand-pacific/620400-qantas-international-head-resigns.html#post10444712

 

[moa999]

Consistent with the anti-Jetstar stance on Pprune but not really born out by fact

(From a quick skim of airfleets.net)

Last new JQInt aircraft was delivered in 2015. Since this time QFi has 8 787s with more coming (and got the last of its 330s back from JQ)

Although Jetstar will get new 18 321neoLRs 2020-2022 for a combination of domestic and shorter International (eg. Bali) but this will likely include some replacements of older 320s.

Last domestic 320 was in 2014 with two 321s in 2016

Jetstar Asia has only added 1 320 aircraft since 2013 and has no 787s.

Scoot (Singapore) and the various other Asian LCCs of AirAsia and Lion in particular have added a lot more capacity - eg. Scoot 18 788/789s 2015-now and 7 320/320neos added since the 2017 merger with Tiger.

Reality is Qantas will need to crank up the capex in both mainline and Jetstar over the next decade

 

[jb747]

Joyce sent the 787s that were ordered by Dixon for QF to Jetstar. Boston Bruce was canned in part because he said JQ would never make money with widebody...he didn't want the 787s. The lack of those aircraft makes QFi even less financially viable.

The very few QF 787s that Joyce has taken delivery of, were ordered by Dixon. It remains true that he has not ordered anything for mainline.

Whilst there are lots of valid reasons for execs to leave a company, the main one here has been daring to disagree with AJ. He surrounds himself with sycophants, and so lives in an echo chamber. To say he is despised by the staff underplays the level of disgust by orders of magnitude.

 

[Himeno]

Joyce sent the 787s that were ordered by Dixon for QF to Jetstar. Boston Bruce was canned in part because he said JQ would never make money with widebody...he didn't want the 787s. The lack of those aircraft makes QFi even less financially viable.

The very few QF 787s that Joyce has taken delivery of, were ordered by Dixon. It remains true that he has not ordered anything for mainline.

Whilst there are lots of valid reasons for execs to leave a company, the main one here has been daring to disagree with AJ. He surrounds himself with sycophants, and so lives in an echo chamber. To say he is despised by the staff underplays the level of disgust by orders of magnitude.

Would you have been saying it in this way a year ago?

 

[Happy Trails]

Self referential, but I'm reminded of this comment from 2014.

Boeing 777, from A to B

 

[moa999]

The very few QF 787s that Joyce has taken delivery of, were ordered by Dixon. It remains true that he has not ordered anything for mainline.

True. But I think only because Dixon over ordered.
6 747ERs
12+12 A380s (with 8 later firmed up)
13 A330s (with more later as compensation for 380 delays)
50+ 787s.


The 777-200ER should have been ordered instead of the 747-400ER with hindsight imo.

 

[Robert K]

Is it common for execs to move from department to department in the corporate world?

 

[Franky]

Is it common for execs to move from department to department in the corporate world?

True - but that is cross training to prepare execs for higher duties. This one is is more of a kick out the front door and into the employment pool

 

[tdimdad]

Is it common for execs to move from department to department in the corporate world?

A company I worked for recently did this purposefully. They rotated staff every 3-5 years into other roles, many being posted to other offices or overseas, too. Many of our senior managers had been around for 30+ years and across multiple businesses and countries in the corporation so they both had huge organisational knowledge and always new things to learn in the business.

 

[ozfflyer]

could it be because lately QF INT seems to have been nearly matching the sale fares of every cheaper carrier, even poor old air nz, esp to USA ?

Yields to USA must be down ?

 

[jb747]

True. But I think only because Dixon over ordered.
6 747ERs
12+12 A380s (with 8 later firmed up)
13 A330s (with more later as compensation for 380 delays)
50+ 787s.

Not really over ordering. The 380s plus 747ERs basically replaced the Classics and existing 747-400s. The would have been something like 40 767s/A300s to replace. There's a bit of growth, but nothing out of the ordinary. And of course, options are not orders. The dynamic would have been quite different if the 380 and or 787 had actually been delivered on time.

The 777-200ER should have been ordered instead of the 747-400ER with hindsight imo.

The 777-200s numbers don't stack up at all well compared to the 777-300. Most of the pilots would have preferred to see a 777 mix as well. Feedback at the time was that Boeing considered QF to be a 'Boeing' airline, and that their pricing was pretty bad.

 

[Melburnian1]

Not my post, but a copy and paste from PPRuNe:

https://www.pprune.org/australia-new-zealand-pacific/620400-qantas-international-head-resigns.html#post10444712

I am not defending AJ because many of my friends, and I, cannot stand his advocacy re social issues. I have no interest in rugby and wouldn't even know if the chap who got himself into hot water with an Instagram post plays 'league' or 'union', but his silencing by Qantas (as a sponsor) and others ignored what democracy is all about. (It's OK for the Left to say and do what they like, but for anyone conservative or religious...nup).

That said, if one examines the BITRE figures, QFi's (i.e. international 'mainline') share of overall passengers has been increasing a bit (excluding JQ), due to new or recommenced routes. YVR seasonally, increases in frequency to MNL, NRT and others, QFi flying SYD and MEL-DPS and so on are a few small examples.

However on some historically important routes, such as MEL/SYD-LHR, 2 x A388s daily each way have been reduced to 1 x A388/ 1 x B789 daily each way.

There's a heck of a lot more competition on Oz-USA than even five years ago, so in a stagnant or slightly declining number of seats sold situation as has been the case on these routes in the past year, yields are highly likely to have suffered.

jb747's explanation may well be on the money.

What would be fascinating, and not just for QF, would be if airline insiders leaked spreadsheets or other documents showing which individual routes were profitable or lossmaking during each financial year, and by how much. There'd have to be sensible allocation (perhaps by revenue passenger kilometres) of corporate and other overheads.