Alan Joyce is hit with $9m payout after former Qantas boss has his bonus cut for damaging airline’s reputation

Former Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has had his bonus cut by more than $9 million after a scathing review accused him of damaging the airline’s reputation.

The national airline took the decision after an investigation found that mistakes by the airline’s management had led to “significant reputational damage and customer service problems”.

An update on Qantas executive compensation for the 2023 financial year was published on Thursday, revealing that Mr Joyce’s long-term incentive of $8.36 million for the 2021-2023 period has been scrapped and his short-term incentive of $900,000 has been cut by a third.

Mr Joyce, who was CEO of Qantas for 15 years before stepping down in September last year, was left with just $1.8 million.

Last year, the airline’s board of directors ordered an investigation after fierce criticism from customers, investors and politicians.

It found that Qantas’ reputational damage was largely due to “too much deference to a long-serving CEO”.

“The group had a ‘command and control’ leadership style with centralized decision-making and an experienced and dominant CEO,” concluded the study, authored by former McKinsey partner Tom Saar.

Former Qantas boss Alan Joyce’s bonus has been cut by more than $9 million after a scathing review accused him of damaging the airline’s reputation

‘This contributed to a top-down culture that influenced empowerment and the willingness to question or speak out about issues or decisions that were of concern.’

However, no intentional findings of misconduct were made.

Qantas has been plagued by a series of scandals in recent years, including the illegal dismissal of almost 2,000 airport workers, cancelled flights, lost luggage and accusations that it defrauded customers with exorbitant prices.

The uproar led to Mr Joyce bringing forward his retirement plans and replacing him with former CFO Vanessa Hudson.

In June last year, Mr Joyce also sold $17 million worth of Qantas shares, just days after the airline provided details of cancelled flights to the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission.

Mr Saar was critical of the move, concluding that ‘there should be additional oversight of share transactions proposed by the CEO and members of the group leadership team’.

Qantas’ new chairman John Mullen said Joyce’s pay cut and sweeping reforms indicated the airline was on the right track.

“It is important that the board understands what went wrong and learns from the mistakes of the past because it is clear that we have failed the Australians,” Mr Mullen said.

“As the national airline, it is our duty to ensure that we always act in the best interests of stakeholders and that we are held to the highest level of accountability.”

Qantas has been plagued by a series of scandals in recent years, including the illegal dismissal of almost 2,000 airport workers, cancelled flights, lost luggage and accusations that it defrauded customers with exorbitant prices (stock image)

Ms Hudson apologised to customers after taking over as CEO of Qantas last year.

She acknowledged that Qantas still had much work to do to regain passenger confidence.

“I know we have disappointed you in many ways,” she said.

‘We didn’t deliver what we should have done and we were often difficult to deal with.

“We understand why you are frustrated and why some of you have lost confidence in us.”

Ms Hudson said the airline was committed to fixing the issues, improving the customer experience and better supporting its employees.

“We want to return to being the national airline that Australians can be proud of,” she said.

“We understand that we must regain your trust, not with what we say, but with what we do and how we behave.”