WATCH: New Qantas CEO apologises to disgruntled Aussie travellers

Edited by Travel Weekly

Qantas’ new chief executive officer Vanessa Hudson has had to apologise for the airlines lacklustre performance and said the airline is committed to a review of it’s outdated customer policies.

Hudson said the national carrier is investing more than $150m to restore trust and rebuild the reputationally tarnished carrier’s image.

“I know that we have let you down in many ways and for that, I am sorry,” Hudson said in a video posted to Twitter.

“We haven’t delivered the way we should have. And we’ve often been hard to deal with. I know that our people have tried their absolute best under very difficult circumstances. I want you to know that we’re determined to fix it.”

The new CEO, who endorsed strategies by former CEO Alan Joyce as recently as when the airline revealed its $2.47b FY23 profit, said she is reviewing customer operations. Among those includes whether to bring call centres back to Australia, according to the Australian Financial Review.

Hudson said that Qantas has not seen a slowdown in bookings but she acknowledged future spending on customers, which included new aircraft, lounges and food and beverage would come from the airline’s massive profit.

A message to customers from Qantas CEO, Vanessa Hudson. pic.twitter.com/pSjMjXnybY

— Qantas (@Qantas) September 22, 2023

“I have spent time with investors, and they are very supportive of the focus that I’ve got now on regaining trust and investing in the customer,” she said.

The new CEO, who up until earlier this month was the airline’s CFO, went on to acknowledge her role in the past mistakes at the airline.

“I was a part of the leadership at the time, but clearly I wasn’t the chief executive then. I am the chief executive now and what I would say is that I would like to be judged by what we do now and how we behave going forward,” Hudson said.

Alongside these changes, Hudson also said that the airline will add 5 million Frequent Flyer seats.

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qantas Vanessa Hudson