Alan Joyce has refused to answer questions related to his lobbying efforts, while delivering combative responses to allegations of Qantas misconduct, as he was grilled by a Senate committee on Monday.
At an explosive public hearing of the select committee on the cost of living, which Joyce had to be summonsed to after repeatedly refusing to appear, the outgoing Qantas chief executive defended the record $2.47bn full-year profit he announced just days earlier.
Having faced accusations of anti-competitive behaviour, as well as historically high cancellation rates out of Sydney airport, soaring customer dissatisfaction and a looming class action over its Covid-era travel credits policy, Joyce opened the hearing by claiming Qantas had been caught up in a wave of “criticism of corporate profits” due to cost-of-living pressures.
Here are five key moments from the combative hearing:
Joyce denies Qantas credibility hit and defends his salary
In an explosive exchange between Joyce and the Labor senator Tony Sheldon, an ardent Qantas critic and former chief of the Transport Workers Union, Joyce was asked if he felt “embarrassed” with his personal pay – expected to be as much as $24m when he finishes as chief in November – given the airline’s soaring complaints and his decisions to restructure the airline to pay employees less.
Sheldon raised consumer complaints levelled against Qantas – the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has said Qantas was the most complained about company in 2021-22 and 2022-23.
He then asked Joyce if the Qantas board had ever raised with him “the fact that the credibility of Qantas has collapsed under your leadership”.
Joyce responded: “You’re making a whole series of points that are just incorrect.”
Sheldon said he was “getting very frustrated with your answers”.
Joyce repeatedly denied the premise of Sheldon’s questions.
Qatar Airways expansion
Joyce used the hearing to again defend Qantas’s right to have lobbied the Albanese government to reject a request from Qatar Airways to fly an additional 21 weekly services into Australia’s four major airports – Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane – beyond the 28 it currently operates under existing bilateral air rights.
While international air fares remain about 50% above pre-Covid levels, and Qantas remains constrained from increasing international services, Qatar’s push had been supported by state premiers, the tourism industry and partner airline Virgin Australia as making air fares cheaper and promoting economic spending and jobs.
Joyce told senators it was impossible to answer if the extra flights – which he said Qantas had asked the government not to grant in October last year – would have brought air fares down, because the approval may have stopped other airlines from introducing competing services.
Asked repeatedly if Qatar’s expansion would have made international flights cheaper, Joyce said air fares were set to fall regardless of Qatar’s denied capacity.
Joyce then complained that Qantas also suffers from bilateral agreements limiting its expansion to other countries, and said “if you could wave a magic wand tomorrow and remove the bilateral system … we will be the happiest airline”.
Joyce refuses to divulge lobbying efforts
Joyce then refused to disclose if he discussed the proposal with the prime minister or transport minister. “Any conversations I have with the prime minister or a minister I never divulge. I’ve kept that for all seven prime ministers and I have no intention of changing my approach.”
Joyce also refused to answer a question about chairman’s lounge memberships for politicians’ family members.
“I’ve got privacy issues where we will not comment on who’s in, who’s been offered (a membership) ... I will not be making any comments, or confirming or denying it.”
The Nationals senator Matt Canavan suggested the committee may demand Qantas reveal those details.
‘Hoarding’ Sydney airport slots
Joyce faced repeated questions about Qantas’s high cancellation rate out of Sydney airport – with the Sydney-Melbourne route averaging a rate of just under one in 10.
He denied his company – which includes budget airline Jetstar – strategically schedules then cancels flights out of Sydney airport to block competitors from launching rival services, instead blaming air traffic controller shortages for stubbornly high cancellation rates out of the city.
When asked during the hearing, “Isn’t it true that Qantas actually has no intention of flying those flights and that you are indeed hoarding slots in and out of Sydney,” Joyce repeated his claim Qantas’s cancellation rate on a national level (not out of Sydney specifically) were the lowest of the major carriers.
He was interrupted with month-by-month cancellation data specific to Sydney routes and explained these with “supply chain issues” and “air traffic control delays”.
Joyce added: “To disrupt less customers, the easiest thing we can do is to concentrate the cancellations on a high frequency route like Melbourne-Sydney, because that means that there’s a flight every half hour we can re-accommodate people on (to).”
Canavan asked Joyce why Qantas’s cancellation rate out of Sydney was significantly higher than Rex Airlines’, given all airlines suffered from air traffic control shortages. Joyce said that while Rex only operated large jets between Sydney and major cities, “we (Qantas) have a network to protect”.
Outstanding flight credits higher than first thought
Another revelation was the true amount held by Qantas in credits for flights cancelled due to Covid-related restrictions.
Qantas in June announced more than $500m in Covid credits remained unclaimed and would expire by the end of the year. While refunds have been offered for some credits, not everyone was able to claim these, and a class action lawsuit is now claiming compensation for lost interest on the credits.
Recent figures from Qantas put remaining credits at $370m, and at Monday’s hearing, the Jetstar chief executive, Steph Tully, confirmed this number did not include Jetstar or overseas customers’ credits.
“Around $100m” in Jetstar credits remain unclaimed, on top of Qantas’s $370m, Tully said.
“You’re not being transparent,” Sheldon claimed. He then asked Tully “what’s stopping you from refunding the money”. Tully replied “lots of reasons”, citing codeshare flights and “half-taken trips”.
