Qatar Airways has agreed to acquire a 25% stake in Virgin Australia, positioning the Australian airline to re-enter long-haul international routes. The deal awaits regulatory approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board.
Jayne Hrdlicka will step down as the CEO of Virgin Australia, the airline has confirmed.
Virgin Australia could face strike action over job insecurity, unsafe conditions and ‘poverty pay’ as the airline’s approach to bargaining ‘frustrates’ staff, the Transport Workers Union says.
Alan Joyce, a mathematics progeny who has a Master of Science from Trinity College, has been leading the Qantas Group since 2008. Having slashed annual costs by $2 billion to survive in 2014 and beyond, a reinvented Qantas was generating stellar profits and celebrating its centenary year in 2020 when the covid-19 pandemic gate-crashed the party.