The Author
- Jan 2
- 2 min read

Alan Joyce

Alan Joyce is an Irish-Australian businessman who was the CEO of Qantas from 2008 to 2023. Mr. Joyce spent 15 years in various roles across Aer Lingus, Ansett and Qantas before becoming the CEO of Jetstar in 2003. As CEO of Qantas for over a decade, Mr. Joyce oversaw numerous disputes, scandals and controversies related to the airline.

Salary

In 2011 Mr. Joyce’s salary package as CEO of Qantas was approved for $5 million. That year, Qantas was navigating significant industrial action which led to Mr. Joyce grounding the Qantas fleet which cost the company almost $70 million by October. In September of 2017 it was reported that Mr. Joyce’s salary had doubled in a single year, with his salary package for the 2016-2017 financial year set at $24.6 million according to Qantas’ annual report.

COVID-19

In March of 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Joyce reportedly gave up his salary for the remainder of the financial year. Assuming Mr. Joyce was to earn the same amount as the previous year ($23.8 million, the highest salary of any executive in Australia for that year), and his salary cut took place on March 1st of 2020, Mr. Joyce effectively gave up $7.9 million.

The Qantas board also saw a 30% cut to their salary and all Qantas and Jetstar employees were asked to paid or unpaid leave in response to the reduced flying activity during the pandemic.

An altercation ensued after Mr. Joyce was approached and questioned by controversial YouTuber, the Aussie Cossack, in November of 2022. The Aussie Cossack criticised Mr. Joyce for discriminating against Qantas employees who did not receive the COVID-19 vaccination.

Retirement

In May of 2023 Mr. Joyce announced that he would be retiring in November with Qantas’ CFO, Vanessa Hudson to replace him. In September it was reported that Mr. Joyce would be retiring earlier than expected in response to the controversy surrounding Qantas continuing to sell tickets for flights which had already been cancelled.

Same-Sex Marriage Advocacy & Wedding

Mr. Joyce married his long term partner, Shane Lloyd, in November of 2019 two years after the pair personally donated $1 million to the same-sex marriage campaign. The wedding saw numerous high-profile guests including former-SBS and Telstra Executive, Michael Ebeid, and his partner, Roland Hewlett, Optus Chairman, Paul O’Sullivan, former-David Jones CEO, Paul Zahra, former-Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, Alan Jones and Anthony Albanese.