Alan Joyce is stepping down early as head of Qantas Airways Ltd., an ignominious exit for one of aviation’s highest-profile leaders after claims the airline sold tickets for thousands of flights it had already canceled.
Joyce, who was due to hand over to Chief Financial Officer Vanessa Hudson in November, will leave Sept. 6, Qantas said in a statement Tuesday. She’ll now have the task of repairing the carrier’s tattered reputation with customers as regulators tighten their focus on Qantas’s dominance of Australia’s aviation market.
Hudson’s premature succession shows an airline bowing to public anger over the alleged sale last year of seats on flights that were never going to take off. The scandal, the latest in a series of blows to Qantas’ reputation in recent months, has been amplified by the airline’s record-breaking profits.
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