Alan Joyce to keep flying on Qantas dime for more than two decades

Ayesha de KretserSenior reporter

Oct 9, 2024 – 4.27pm

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Former Qantas boss Alan Joyce will keep flying at the front of the plane for free until 2046, enjoying millions of dollars in company benefits awarded to him under the airline’s generous executive perks.

Proxy advice firm Ownership Matters said Qantas executives including the former CEO retained access to four long-haul flights and 12 short-haul flights a year for themselves and their nominated beneficiaries for a period equal to their tenure.

Former Qantas boss Alan Joyce will keep flying up front for free for another 22 years.

That means Mr Joyce and his husband Shane Lloyd will each receive free flights for the next 22 years, having joined Qantas in 2000. At today’s prices, a return first-class flight to Dublin would cost $20,000. The four long-haul flights a year alone would be worth close to $2 million per person over the next two decades.

Ownership Matters said the Qantas board members also received slightly less generous flight entitlements of three long-haul and nine short-haul flights each year for themselves and their beneficiaries, except for the chairman, whose entitlements matched those of the executive team.

“The disclosed financial year 2024 cost of travel benefits was $374,000 (down from 2023’s $435,000) and $124,000 was accrued for post-employment travel (from $100,000 in 2023),” the proxy firm said.

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Former chairman Richard Goyder’s travel accounted for $106,000 of the $124,000 total last financial year.

The former head of Qantas’ loyalty program, Olivia Wirth, will also retain her flight entitlements, after receiving a “good leaver” pro-rated bonus of $579,000 in cash and shares, her unvested long-term incentive allocations pro rata and a severance payment of $479,000 (effectively six months’ pay).

Remuneration report

“In discussions, Qantas’ representatives said the treatment of Wirth as a good leaver reflected the fact Myer was not a competitor and the fact she was ‘very constructive’ in ensuring a good handover to her successor, Andrew Glance, and ‘couldn’t have been more helpful’,” the report said.

Ownership Matters agreed with rival proxy firm Glass Lewis saying Qantas shareholders should support the airline’s remuneration report and all other board-backed resolutions this year, after almost 83 per cent opposed executive pay last year.

Backing the remuneration report this year, Ownership Matters acknowledged the cancellation of $9.4 million worth of incentives to Mr Joyce and penalties against other executives’ pay for customer failings.

In her first year since pledging to restore Qantas’ focus on customer service as its chief executive, Vanessa Hudson has increased spending on food and service and signed new pay deals with flight attendants.

On Wednesday, Qantas said it would make it much easier to use flight credits when customers cancelled bookings.

“Currently customers who cancel their flights can only use their flight credit to rebook fares that are equal to or higher than their original booking,” the airline said.

“As part of the changes, customers will be able to book fares lower than the original booking and will receive a new flight credit with any remaining value. The change will be retrospectively applied to more than 100,000 flight credits requested by customers. The ‘multi-use’ rule already applies when Qantas cancels a flight and the customer elects to receive a credit.”

After a huge backlash against plans to increase its change fee by a whopping 20 per cent, Qantas said it would delay the planned increase and keep the rate at $99 for domestic bookings.