qantas had a monopoly once.., page-2

Its interesting to compare the boards of Qantas and Virgin.

Qantas is heavy with highly qualified people from many backgrounds, but many of the Virgin board people have direct connections with Richard Branson. Clearly the focus there is more on the airline itself, than Qantas where the focus seems to be a bit scattered.

Qantas Board member Barbara Ward, was a former adviser to Paul Keating, and was CEO of Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services for five years until 1998. Ward was also a director of Allco Finance Group, which collapsed in 2008.

So she has been on boards of two companies that have collapsed spectacularly.

Barbara Ward has clear links to the Labor Party as she enjoyed a series of government appointments by the NSW government over the past decade.

One wonders just what exertise she brings to the Qantas board.

Board member Paul Rayner was global finance director of British America Tobacco. What has that got to do with airlines?

There is a lot more like this, and one wonders just why those people are on the board. You won't find anything like that culture on the Virgin board.