Former Qantas boss Alan Joyce cut a dejected figure after he had his bonus slashed by over $9million.
The ex-CEO was pictured walking his dog on the Northern Beaches the day after a scathing review blamed him for damaging the airline’s reputation last week.
Mr Joyce, who was sporting a black Kathmandu puffer jacket, cotton trackpants and a cap, appeared to be lost in thought as he sat listening to his AirPods on a beachside bench.
He was perhaps rueing the damning findings of a review commissioned by his former employer last year amid intense criticism from customers, investors and politicians.
It found that Qantas’ reputational battering was in large part due to ‘too much deference to a long-tenured CEO’.
‘The group had a “command and control” leadership style with centralised decisions and an experienced and dominant CEO,’ the review, authored by former McKinsey partner Tom Saar, concluded.
‘This contributed to a top-down culture, which impacted empowerment and a willingness to challenge or “speak up” on issues or decisions of concern.’
It concluded that, while there were no deliberate findings of wrongdoing, mistakes by the airline’s management caused ‘significant reputational and customer service issues’.
As a result, the national carrier made the decision to cut Mr Joyce’s bonus.
An update to Qantas’ 2023 financial year executive remuneration on Thursday last week revealed that Mr Joyce had his $8.36m 2021-2023 long-term bonus axed and his short term incentive of $900,000 reduced by a third.
Mr Joyce, who was CEO of Qantas for 15 years before stepping down in September last year, was left with just $1.8million.
Qantas has been plagued by a litany of scandals in recent years, including the illegal sacking of almost 2,000 airport staff, cancelled flights, lost luggage and accusations it was ripping off customers with exorbitant prices.
The furore led to Mr Joyce bringing forward his retirement plans. He was replaced by former chief financial officer Vanessa Hudson.
In June last year, Mr Joyce also sold $17 million worth of Qantas shares just days after the airline supplied details of cancelled flights to the n Competition & Consumer Commission.
Mr Saar’s review was critical of this move, finding that ‘there should be additional scrutiny of share dealings proposed by the CEO and members of the group leadership team’.
Incoming Qantas Chairman John Mullen said Mr Joyce’s pay cut and sweeping reforms indicated the airline steering itself in the right direction.
‘It’s important that the Board understands what went wrong and learns from the mistakes of the past as it’s clear that we let ns down,’ Mr Mullen said.
‘As the national carrier it is our duty to make sure we always act in the best interest of stakeholders and hold ourselves to the highest level of accountability.’
Ms Hudson issued an apology to customers after she took over the reins as Qantas CEO last year.
She acknowledged Qantas had work to do in winning back trust among travellers.
‘I know that we have let you down in many ways,’ she said.
‘We haven’t delivered the way we should have and we’ve often been hard to deal with.
‘We understand why you’re frustrated, and why some of you have lost trust in us.’
Ms Hudson said the airline was determined to fix the issues, improve the experience of flyers and better support its workers.
‘We want to get back to the national carrier that ns can be proud of,’ she said.
‘We understand we need to earn your trust back, not with what we say, but what we do and how we behave.’