David Evans at the controls. Vanessa Hudson now in control.Credit:Aresna Villanueva
While all the commentary on Qantas has been about one man,I think it’s important that the incoming CEO remembers the airline built its reputation on the sum of its parts rather than accounting wizardry by the person at the top.
Vanessa Hudson has a corporate task analogous to the one my colleagues and I faced in the frantic cockpit of QF32 above Singapore. A misstep could prove fatal. The Spirit of Australia is about trust,which must be restored between the passengers and the airline.
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My message to Hudson is to practise empathy. Open those lines of communication with your travelling clients and have the “Customer Care” centre actually engage with those clients. Simplify the online booking process,so it doesn’t require a degree in computer science to navigate.
Do not praise your predecessor for his outstanding work,as under no metric do I consider his work outstanding. And above all else,give people their money back,without restriction,promptly,if for no fault of theirs you don’t fulfil your travel contract.
I hope that the steady hand of Hudson at the controls can turn around its moral compass and steer this Australian icon back on course.
David Evans was a Qantas pilot for 37 years.
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