Grounded fleets, illegal job cuts and multimillion-dollar bonuses: this is the baggage from Alan Joyce's 15-year tenure at Qantas.
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As The New Daily reported Joyce as saying, "In the last few weeks, the focus on Qantas and events of the past make it clear that the company needs to move ahead with its renewal as a priority.
"The best thing I can do under these circumstances is to bring forward my retirement and hand over to [incoming boss] Vanessa Hudson and the new management team now."
Since joining the flying kangaroo in 2001, Mr Joyce has weathered criticism, controversy and a pandemic before announcing his resignation earlier this year.
He leaves Qantas banking bumper profits, but also with a diminished reputation from the one he inherited when it was regarded as one of the world's premium carriers.
Let's look at his career and the baggage his tenure at Qantas has left behind.
He arrived at Qantas from the now-defunct Ansett Australia, having previously worked for Aer Lingus in his native Ireland.
In 2003, he took the top job at Jetstar. Under his leadership, Qantas's budget wing expanded services to New Zealand, combined with Jetstar Asia and acquired a stake in Pacific Airlines, which was relaunched as Jetstar Pacific.
In November 2008, Mr Joyce replaced Geoff Dixon as Qantas CEO. It wasn't long before he was locked in a battle with his employees.
Following weeks of industrial action by pilots, ground staff and engineers in 2011, and with more than 600 flights cancelled worldwide, Mr Joyce made a drastic decision.
He grounded Qantas's entire fleet of 101 aircraft in 22 airports across the globe. Indefinitely.
The dispute over pay, conditions and outsourced jobs put Mr Joyce at war with the Transport Workers Union, the Australian and International Pilots Association and the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association.
Sadly Mr Joyce ultimately won the dispute, giving few concessions after Fair Work Australia rejected the unions' pay demands in August 2012.
In 2013, after Qantas posted a $252 million six-month loss, Mr Joyce took another drastic step. He cut 5000 full-time jobs, froze wages and dumped flight routes to slash costs by $2 billion, having stared down his employees and held his nerve throughout widespread industrial action.
When borders closed in April 2020, the airline stopped international flights and cut domestic routes to just 5 per cent of capacity.
Mr Joyce defended his decision to cut more than 6000 jobs and stand down another 15,000 employees without pay, despite billions of dollars in taxpayer cash going to Qantas.
When travel eventually resumed, there was chaos at Australia's airports. Baggage handlers who had been retrenched were not replaced, and any semblance of good customer service collapsed, leaving passengers wondering where their money had gone.
Flight attendants had their bonuses withheld by Qantas from 2018 to 2022. They were eventually paid when a new bargaining agreement was signed in March this year.
Just two months later, Mr Joyce announced he would leave in November 2023, with Vanessa Hudson to take over.
Before Mr Joyce departed he and Qantas did everything they could to maximise profits, from allegedly selling tickets on cancelled flights to holding onto hundreds of millions in flight credits, actions resulting in ACCC investigations and a public backlash.
Mr Joyce leaves while still owed a $24 million golden parachute, but in August, Qantas posted record profits for the first time since pre-COVID.
By bidding farewell to Mr Joyce two months early to "help the company accelerate its renewal", Qantas hopes Australians will see the change to Ms Hudson as a fresh start.
This is despite her being a long-term fixture at Qantas. She joined the company in 1994 and was chief financial officer before getting the top job.
Whether she can win back its reputation, maintain profits and return Qantas to its former glory remains to be seen.
This whole sorry saga has also caused problems for the Albanese Labor federal government, so it also has some unwanted baggage. This particularly but not only refers to the failure to bring down international airfares by granting Qatar Airways extra landing slots at east coast airports.
My take on the whole sorry mess is that it is a prime example of the dangers of neo-liberal unregulated capitalism, and the sooner it is re-nationalised the better it will be for the 'Spirit of Australia'.
