As expected, General Peter Cosgrove has stepped down from his position as a Non-Executive Director of the Qantas Board as he prepares to take up his position of Governor-General of Australia.
“We congratulate Peter on his appointment as Australia’s next Governor-General,” Qantas Chairman Leigh Clifford said in a statement. “Australia is indeed fortunate to have a person of Peter’s calibre to take on such an important role. Peter has a distinguished record as a military leader and in a range of corporate and community roles, including more than eight years on the Qantas Board.
In a separate statement, the Australian and International Pilots Association has called for a senior pilot to be appointed to the board to replace General Cosgrove.
The AIPA said it presented Qantas with an “ideal opportunity to follow the example of other leading global airlines…by appointing an individual with significant operational experience to the board.”
“Qantas has nothing to lose and everything to gain from widening its channels of advice and engaging seriously at a board level with those who have significant operational experience in the airline,” AIPA President Nathan Safe said. “Pilots are ideal in this regard. You don’t get to be a Qantas pilot without a passion for aviation and a strong interest in how airlines and the broader industry operates. Qantas pilots tend to stay at the airline for their whole career, and those decades of experience mean a senior pilot could bring to the board table a level of corporate memory that would be extremely valuable.”
