Qantas, the Australian airline, has announced that Vanessa Hudson, the Chief Financial Officer of the company will be taking the position of Chief Executive and Managing Director, taking over from Alan Joyce in November this year. Hudson has been serving with the company in various roles for 28 years now. Alan Joyce had taken up the role back in 2008 and had recently decided to stay on through the pandemic.
Having a female CEO in an often male-dominated aviation industry is a testament to the country. Richard Goyder, the Chair of the company, has spoken of the discussion with high praise and admiration. Hudson has stated that her main focus lies in delivering for the customers.
The company went through a rather turbulent period from 2020 due to the pandemic, but its financial picture brightened in February as it achieved an underlying pre-tax half-year result of 1.43 billion Australian dollars ($978 million).
Qantas has gone through its fair share of changes in its 103-year history with 12 different CEOs. With Hudson set to join the ranks soon, one can only hope for the better for the company and its customers.
