Qantas will have new bosses for a number of its business units from November as it shakes up its leadership team following the retirement of a long-time executive.
Among the changes announced on Monday, Alison Webster has been promoted to the executive team as chief executive of Qantas international. Currently, Webster is executive manager of freight, catering and airports, having held a number of different roles at Qantas previously.
“I’m pleased that we will be welcoming a new member to the Qantas executive team, with Alison Webster joining as the CEO of Qantas International,” Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said in a statement.
“Alison has close to 30 years’ experience in aviation, including 13 at Qantas. She’s held senior executive roles across commercial, customer and operations here and with British Airways.”
Current Qantas international chief executive Gareth Evans will become Jetstar group chief executive, replacing Jayne Hrdlicka.
In turn, Hrdlicka has been appointed chief executive of Qantas’s loyalty and digital ventures business, taking over from Lesley Grant.
Grant has been named Qantas’s group executive for people and culture, following the retirement of Jon Scriven after eight and a half years at the company.
And Andrew David will add responsibility for freight, catering and airports to his role as Qantas domestic chief executive.
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said the changes reflected renewal within a well-established team.
“Over the past three years, our senior executive team has led the Group through a major turnaround. We’re now entering a phase of ongoing improvement and innovation, and these changes will help drive that,” Joyce said in a statement.
“This is also about making the best use of the considerable leadership talent at the top level of our organisation.”
In other changes, Olivia Wirth has been named chief customer officer, while retaining her role as group executive for brand, marketing and corporate affairs.
Qantas general counsel and company secretary Andrew Finch also has an expanded role under the new line-up, taking on responsibility for the office of the chief executive.
The executives will take up their new positions from November. Qantas said it was the first restructure of its leadership team since 2014.
The company recently announced net profit fell 17 per cent in 2016/17 to $852 million amid weakness in the resources sector and intense competition on international routes.
Underlying profit before tax, which removes one-off items and was regarded as the best indication of financial performance, fell 8.4 per cent to $1.40 billion, from $1.53 billion achieved in 2015/16.
