Virgin Blue has reportedly hired three Qantas executives to bolster its push into the lucrative corporate and government travel markets.
According to Fairfax Media reports, Virgin has poached Qantas’s former head of government relations Jane McKeon, who will take on a similar role at Virgin based in Canberra in coming months. Virgin has also managed to attract Qantas’s former head of pricing, Will Owens, who will become head of yield management. The airline has also employed former Creative Holidays managing director Justin Montgomery as its head of sales.
The reported appointments possibly signals an intent from CEO John Borghetti to bring former Qantas staff he has worked with previously into Virgin to help spearhead a push into higher yielding corporate and government travel markets. Borghetti has already signalled that the carrier will look to introduce business class on its short haul flights, while a route review is likely to result in major changes to its V Australia operation.
