iscover
Issue #391: Joyce Exits & A New Airshow Begins
What will be Alan Joyce’s legacy?
Has Australia ever had a more consequential aviation figure than Alan Joyce? I didn’t say popular or successful, mind, but consequential. As numerous commentators have pointed out, Alan Joyce was the most famous business personality in Australia precisely because he radically changed Qantas and, in doing so, changed the industry. He seemed to pick a fight with everyone – the passengers, the unions, the state premiers, his rivals and maybe even his staff – and won those battles more often than not.
This issue, we’ve decided to reflect on what his legacy actually is. To do so, we’ve enlisted the help of one of the industry’s most respected figures, Peter Harbison, the founder of CAPA. With impeccable timing, he’s just released the definitive biography of Joyce’s time at Qantas, including numerous interviews with the man himself. Alongside an exclusive extract, we’ve also recorded a podcast and put the edited highlights, in text form, in this magazine. To finish off our coverage, senior journalist Jake Nelson recounts the most significant moments in his tenure.
This content is available exclusively to Australian Aviation members.
A monthly membership is only $5.99 or save with our annual plans.
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Unlimited access to all Australian Aviation digital content
- Access to the Australian Aviation app
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Access to our Behind the Lens photo galleries and other exclusive content
- Daily news updates via our email bulletin
- Unlimited access to all Australian Aviation digital content
- Access to the Australian Aviation app
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Access to our Behind the Lens photo galleries and other exclusive content
- Daily news updates via our email bulletin
But as one story closes, another is just beginning. The world’s biggest airshow arrived on the Gold Coast in August. Not in a remote airshow but on the sands of Surfers Paradise. Australian Aviation attended, and it was, we all agreed, a genuine revolution. Rather than forcing visitors to trek to the middle of nowhere, the show comes to them. In total, organisers now believe around 300,000 attended – frankly a mind-boggling number for a first-year event. With another four iterations already confirmed to run annually, the spectacle is set to quickly double and then triple in size.
But its path to launching was anything but smooth, as owner Kevin Elliott saw his business smashed by COVID-19. In our exclusive feature, we speak to him about how he came back from the brink to change how we view aviation in Australia. Next, our US correspondent – a very fancy title indeed – Hannah Dowling returns with another fantastic dispatch from abroad. She reveals how the US is getting over its skills crisis by, wait for it, paying pilots more! She speaks to the players to reveal how the unions and the airlines knuckled down to find a way forward. It’s a revealing insight for anyone working in the airline business in Australia.
Finally, this month, listeners of Australian Aviation will note that we are saying goodbye to perhaps the second-biggest figure in our industry – Chris Fenton, our partnership manager. Chris, as I say every week, has held almost every role in the industry and stepped up to be far more than just a sales guy here, providing his analyses on our show. Chris was fantastic, and we will miss him very much, though I’m sure we can persuade him to return for a few more shows at Christmas.
Finally, we welcome back all the regulars – Warbirds, Traffic and Register – to give you an unrivalled knowledge of the comings and goings of aircraft, new and old, in Australia.
Enjoy the issue,
Adam
Want to see more stories from trusted news sources?
Make Australian Aviation a preferred news source on Google.
Click here to add Australian Aviation as a preferred news source.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Opinion: We don’t need a fourth Triton
Michael Shoebridge, Director, Strategic Analysis Australia
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
