Alan Joseph Joyce (born 30 June 1966) is an Irish-Australian

businessman A businessperson, also referred to as a businessman or businesswoman, is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial ...

. He was the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

(CEO) of

Qantas Qantas ( ), formally Qantas Airways Limited, is the flag carrier of Australia, and the largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations in Australia and List of largest airlines in Oceania, Oceania. A foundi ...

Airways Limited from 2008 until his resignation on September 5, 2023.

Early life and education

Joyce was born and raised in Tallaght, now a suburb of

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. His mother was a cleaner, and his father worked in a tobacco factory. Joyce attended secondary school at St Mark's Community School in Springfield, Tallaght. Joyce attended

Dublin Institute of Technology Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT, ) was a major third-level institution in Dublin, Ireland. On 1 January 2019 DIT was dissolved and its functions were transferred to the Technological University Dublin, as TU Dublin City Campus. The insti ...

and

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

. He graduated with Honours, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Science (Physics and Mathematics) and a Master of Science degree in Management Science. He is a Fellow of the

Royal Aeronautical Society The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a British multi-disciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community. Founded in 1866, it is the oldest Aeronautics, aeronautical society in the world. Memb ...

Career

Early career

In 1988, Joyce commenced work at

Aer Lingus Aer Lingus ( ; an anglicisation of the Irish language, Irish , meaning "air fleet") is an Irish airline company which is the flag carrier of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded by the Irish Government, it was privatised between 2006 and 201 ...

, the flag carrier of Ireland. He held various positions in

sales Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale. A period during which goods are sold for a reduced price may also be referred ...

marketing Marketing is the act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of Business administration, business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or ma ...

information technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

, network planning, operations research, revenue management and fleet planning. In 1996, he resigned to join the now-defunct Ansett Australia. In 2000, Joyce joined

. At both Ansett Australia and Qantas, he headed the Network Planning, Schedules Planning and Network Strategy functions. Joyce was appointed CEO of Qantas subsidiary Jetstar Airways in October 2003.

CEO of Qantas

Joyce became CEO of Qantas on November 28, 2008. He succeeded Geoff Dixon, who had been in the role since March 2001. Joyce is a former director of Orangestar Investment Holdings Pte Limited (holding company of Singapore-based Jetstar Asia Airways and Valuair) and Jetstar Pacific Airlines Aviation Joint Stock Company (in Vietnam).

2010–2011 Senate inquiry on airline safety

In 2010, a Senate inquiry into airline safety in low-cost airline practices was called. Joyce was called to testify regarding a 2007 incident that had occurred when he was CEO of Jetstar. On 25 February 2011, at his first hearing at the Senate inquiry, Joyce insisted safety was aligned in the Qantas Group. He closed his opening statement with "Let me make this clear: at Jetstar there is no compromise on safety. The budget airline model does not require it, and we would never accept it. Qantas and Jetstar have different brands, but are completely aligned on safety. We would never compromise that." On 24 June 2011, ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

'' reported, "Qantas and Jetstar intend to press ahead with their plans to fast-track relatively inexperienced co-pilots into airliner cockpits, despite a parliamentary inquiry yesterday finding against the practice", while also noting that the

Civil Aviation Safety Authority The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) is an Australian statutory authority responsible for the regulation and safety oversight of Australia's civil aviation. CASA was formed on 6 July 1995 under the ''Civil Aviation Act 1988'' when the Civil ...

had argued that "there is no evidence to suggest that he cadet training schemesapproach has resulted in any diminution of safety standards".

2011 Qantas industrial disputes

On 29 October 2011, as a result of continuing industrial unrest following the announcement of job losses and structural changes at Qantas, Joyce grounded the entire Qantas mainline fleet.Staff writers (29 October 2011
"Shock as Qantas chief Alan Joyce grounds airline's domestic and international fleet"

The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) ''The Daily Telegraph'', also nicknamed ''The Tele'', is an Australian tabloid newspaper published by Nationwide News Pty Limited (NWN), a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of News Corp. It is published Monday through Satu ...

. Retrieved 29 October 2011 ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...

'' named Joyce the most influential business leader in 2011. Yet a poll following his controversial 2011 grounding of the Qantas fleet showed the action has increased negative public perception of the airline. In 2011, Joyce's remuneration was increased 71 percent from $2.92 million in 2009–10 to $5.01 million and he was granted 1.7 million Qantas shares under a long-term incentive plan. His reported comments that his salary was "conservative" were criticised by the Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA).

2016–2017 company restructuring

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' reported Joyce's total pay package had doubled to $24.6 million for the 2016-17 financial year, nearly twice as much as the $12.96m he received in the previous 12 months. This followed the airline announcing it will cut 5000 full-time jobs to achieve $2bn in cost reductions by the same financial year.

2017 pie attack incident

On 9 May 2017, Joyce was delivering a speech to a business breakfast event in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, when a lemon meringue pie was pushed into his face by Tony Overheu, a Western Australian farmer and Christian."Qantas chief Alan Joyce gets pie in face at Perth business breakfast", www.abc.net.au
retrieved 9 May 2017. Overheu subsequently apologised for humiliating the CEO, claiming that he pied the business figure due to his personal belief that Joyce had overstepped the line in his gay marriage advocacy and the assailant's response simply reflected community push-back. He was later convicted of common assault, trespass, causing damage to property and giving false details to police.

Later years and retirement

In May 2019, Joyce committed to three more years as the chief executive of Qantas. In response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Joyce gave up his salary for the rest of the financial year. In May 2023, Joyce announced that he would step aside as Qantas CEO in November, being replaced by Vanessa Hudson, the group's then current CFO. In September 2023, it was reported that the company allegedly continued to sell tickets for flights after they had been cancelled. Several media articles, notably from journalist Joe Aston in the ''

Australian Financial Review The ''Australian Financial Review'' (''AFR'') is an Australian compact daily newspaper with a focus on business, politics and economic affairs. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and has been published continuously since its foun ...

'', were critical of Joyce's handling of these revelations and transparency from the airline. Joyce resigned early as a result, on September 5, 2023. Hudson succeeded him the following day. In January 2024, Alan also resigned from the Sydney Theatre company.

Honours and awards

* ''

'' named Joyce the most influential business leader in 2011. * In 2012, the

Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering The Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE) is an independent Learned society, learned academy that helps Australians understand and use technology to solve complex problems. History The Australian Academy of Technological S ...

elected Joyce to be a fellow of the association (FTSE). * Joyce is an ambassador of the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation (AIEF). * Joyce was named a

Companion of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

(AC), Australia's highest civil honour, in the 2017 Queen's birthday honours list. This honour was awarded for "eminent service to the aviation transport industry, to the development of the national and

international tourism International tourism is tourism that crosses national borders. Globalization has made tourism a popular global leisure activity. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual ...

sectors, to gender equity, inclusion and diversity, and to the community, particularly as a supporter of Indigenous education".

Personal life

Joyce identifies as being Catholic. In 2015, he became a member of the Australian Republic Movement, which argues that Australia should replace the monarchy to become a republic with an Australian head of state. In 2011, he was successfully treated for

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...

. Joyce and his long-term New Zealander partner, Shane Lloyd, married on November 2, 2019, on the rooftop of the Museum of Contemporary Art in

Circular Quay Circular Quay is a harbour, former working port and now international passenger shipping terminal, public piazza and tourism precinct, heritage area, and transport node located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, on the northern edge of the ...

. The couple live in the Rocks, an inner suburb of Sydney.

LGBTI advocacy

Joyce has been outspoken in supporting the

LGBTI Intersex people are born with sex characteristics (such as genitals, gonads, and chromosome patterns) that "do not fit the typical definitions for male or female bodies". They are substantially more likely to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexua ...

community. He personally donated $1 million towards the campaign to legalise same-sex marriage in Australia, which facilitated his own marriage in 2019. Joyce is the patron of the Pinnacle Foundation, an organisation which works with "disadvantaged and marginalised LGBT Australians". For his work, he has been recognised on a global list of LGBT executives. As Qantas CEO, Joyce pledged Qantas would "continue social-justice campaigning".