First it was an enviable super-sized bonus and now Qantas’ head honcho, Alan Joyce, has been named ‘CEO of the Year’ after pulling the airline out of financial strife and into profitability.
The CEO was honoured with the title this week at the World Aviation Summit held in Helsinki by aviation company, Centre for Aviation (CAPA).
CAPA’s Executive Chairman, Peter Harbison, said Joyce earned the title after pulling off ‘one of the most remarkable turnarounds in the history’ of aviation.
“The restructuring is particularly noteworthy as it was intelligently implemented without the benefit of Chapter 11 style bankruptcy protections.”
Peter Harbison, CAPA Executive Chairman
Earlier this year, the Flying Kangaroo revealed it had earned an Underlying Profit Before Tax of $975 million – just under the desired $1 billion mark.
Achieved during the 2014/15 financial year, the figure was a turnaround of $1.6 billion compared to the prior 12 months.
Joyce achieved the high result through slight network changes, aircraft retirement, new aircraft orders and staff cuts.
During the results announcement, Joyce said the airline is only ‘halfway through’ the transformation, which he dubbed as ‘the biggest and fastest’ in the airline’s history.
“Without the transformation, we would not be reporting this strong profit… we have shaped our business for a strong, sustainable future.”
Alan Joyce, Qantas CEO
Other award recipients at the World Aviation Summit included Ethiopian Airlines, which was named ‘Airline of the Year’ as well as Indian carrier IndiGO, which took out the title of ‘Low Cost Airline of the Year’.
Vancouver Airport Authority was also recognised as one of the most innovative gateways for the development of automated passport control kiosks BorderXpress.
