Richard Goyder claims the board & major shareholders believe he’s the best person to chair Qantas

Richard Goyder claims the board & major shareholders believe he’s the best person to chair Qantas

Qantas’ heavily under fire chairman Richard Goyder has maintained that he will not resign from his position despite almost unanimous calls from the industry to do so.

Speaking at the senate inquiry into the aviation sector, Goyder apologised for the illegal sacking of nearly 1700 ground workers and said he plans on maintaining his position at the airline. Goyder claims that the major shareholders and the board feel he’s the best person for the job right now.

“I’ve navigated the company through the global financial crisis, chaired Qantas through the most existential crisis we’ve ever had as an airline. And right now, the major shareholders and the board feel that I’m the best person to chair the board to navigate us through the current situation we’ve got,” he said.

Qantas chairman Richard Goyder (Sky News)

The Transport Workers Union has repeatedly called for Goyder to go while members of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) and the Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA) sent separate letters to Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson asking for his resignation.

Goyder’s comments came within three hours of questioning by a fierce senate committee, where Hudson and Qantas’ general counsel group executive, office of the CEO Andrew Finch faced questions over ACCC monitoring of aviation, lobbying the government on the blocking of Qatar Airways, high airfares, jobseeker and more.

The embattled chairman defended the recently departed Qantas ex-CEO Alan Joyce, who he once called “the best CEO in Australia by the length of a straight.”

At the inquiry, Goyder said: “I’m not going to walk away from Alan in terms of the contribution that he made,” before acknowledging “we’ve got some work to do to recover trust with our customers and trust on the brand”.

The main focus of this inquiry has been the government’s decision to block Qatar Airways’ application for additional capacity. The controversial blocking, which has been the subject of widespread criticism and even an ad campaign by Flight Centre, was advised upon by Qantas which opposed additional capacity for Qatar.

Read more about the senate inquiry here.

(Featured Image: Richard Goyder, Qantas Chairman at the senate inquiry – ABC News)

Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

Richard Goyder

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