Brett’s big goodbye

Key founding Virgin Blue executives including former deputy CEO and COO Rob Sherrard and former head of commercial and head of strategy and communication David Huttner, plus incoming CEO John Borghetti, were joined by a range of industry figures including Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe, CASA CEO John McCormick, Sydney Airport CEO Russell Balding, political figures including Minister for Resources, Energy and Tourism Martin Ferguson and former Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Mark Vaile, figures from the aviation, travel and tourism industry, and media identities such as David Koch and Derryn Hinch in farewelling Godfrey.

A range of speakers paid tribute to Godfrey’s drive and vision in setting up and running Virgin Blue, including old foe former Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon (who comforted Godfrey that “there is life after aviation”), former CEO and current chairman of Sydney Airport Max Moore-Wilton, and, via recorded video message, Virgin Group chairman Sir Richard Branson.

On behalf of Virgin Blue staff, general manager public affairs Heather Jeffrey presented Godfrey with a commemorative gold Velocity frequent flyer card, while the Transport and Tourism Forum’s Chris Brown and Bruce Baird presented Godfrey with that organisation’s National Leadership Award 2010. Jeffrey also announced that Virgin Blue’s next aircraft due for delivery, a Boeing 737-800 due in July, will be named Brett’s Jet and be registered VH-BZG, with BZG the initials of ‘Brett and (his wife) Zahra Godfrey’.

A Virgin Blue staff farewell for Godfrey was then held on Friday May 7th at the airline’s Brisbane headquarters.

Godfrey’s farewells capped off a frenetic period for the always frenetic airline pioneer.

In the weeks leading up to the announcement BG, as he was dubbed at VB, struck off a number of items on his to-do list, most significantly being a new order for up to 105 new Boeing 737s, but also including the alliance with Air New Zealand (detailed opposite), the rollout of a new reservation system compatible with codesharing (which was due to go live on May 8), the launch of VB’s ‘Checkmate’ mobile check-in service (detailed in Newsdesk this issue), and reaching inprinciple agreements on wage agreements with unions representing maintenance engineers and ground staff.

Perhaps the only mis-struck note in the lead up to Godfrey’s departure was the revised profit guidance for the current financial year noted in the airline’s reporting of its February traffic figures (which showed domestic traffic and RPKs both up 1. 5 per cent for the month) to the ASX. That statement noted that “the demand environment experienced during April and seen in the forward bookings through to the [financial] year end has weakened,” such that the airline now expects its profit before tax for the year to be at the “lower end” of its earlier $80-100 million guidance.

Still, Godfrey has much to be proud of. Virgin Blue began operations with just two leased 737-400s on August 31 2000, while today the Virgin Blue Airlines Group, including Pacific Blue, Polynesian Blue and V Australia, operates a fleet of 86 737s, 777-300ERs and E‑Jets flying to 31 Australian and 16 international destinations.

“The Virgin Blue journey is one I’ve been on right from the very beginning, when it was just an idea scrawled on the back of a beer coaster in the early 1990s. By some miracle, that idea, through the sheer dedication and hard work of many talented people, became a multi-award winning airline,” Godfrey wrote in his final welcome message in VB’s Voyeur inflight magazine.

“There are few people in the world who will get to realise a dream of this magnitude in their lifetime, and I know I’m one of the luckiest buggers on the planet to have been a part of the Virgin Blue story. ” Godfrey, still only 46 and still a significant VB shareholder, has pledged to take the next 18 months off to spend more time with his family before seeking other career opportunities.