<!–enpproperty 4410382023-10-15 19:30:00.0LIONEL LIM澳洲航空董事长宣布离职，让投资者“松了一口气”澳洲航空；丑闻；管理111602商业Plus商业/enpproperty–>
澳大利亚最大航空公司的一系列丑闻可能又逼退了一位领袖。
周三，澳洲航空董事长理查德·戈伊德宣布，他将在2024年年度股东大会召开之前退休。该航空公司的董事会表示承认公司面临“声誉问题”。戈伊德自2018年以来一直担任澳洲航空的董事长。
戈伊德将是从该航空公司离职的第二位知名领导者。今年9月，当时的首席执行官艾伦·乔伊斯（Alan Joyce）比原计划提前两个月退位，因为公众和政界对其领导能力越发不满，使其处境艰难。
投资者可能要把澳洲航空丑闻的这一页翻过去了。戈伊德宣布计划退休后，该航空公司的股价上涨了约2%。
证券交易平台MooMoo的驻澳大利亚市场策略师杰茜卡•阿米尔（Jessica Amir）表示，戈伊德的声明让机构投资者“稍微松了一口气”。她说：“投资者想要一名负责任并且能够重建信任的董事长兼首席执行官。”
她补充道：“外部人士很难了解澳洲航空内部发生的闹剧。”
澳洲航空及其飞行袋鼠的标志一直是澳大利亚的传奇，但经过多桩丑闻事件后，该航空公司的地位已经下降了。
今年年初，澳洲航空宣布实现了自2019年以来的首次年度盈利，税前利润达创纪录的15.9亿美元，与去年的亏损11.9亿美元相比大幅回升。然而，丰厚的利润却引来公众和政界对该航空公司的审查，尤其是在消费者和劳工问题上。
8月底，澳大利亚竞争与消费者委员会（ACCC）将澳洲航空告上了法庭，原因是澳航在去年5月至7月期间出售了8000多个已取消航班的座位。澳大利亚竞争与消费者委员会指控该航空公司在取消航班后的一个多月里仍继续出售机票。
上月，澳大利亚最高法院裁定，澳洲航空在疫情初期用承包商替换1700名地勤人员的决定是违法的。
政界人士还担心这家航空公司对澳大利亚政治存在巨大的影响力。本周早些时候，澳大利亚参议院下属的一个委员会据称为了保护澳洲航空，建议政府审查一项决定——该决定拒绝卡塔尔航空（Qatar Airways）增加飞往该国航班的申请。
澳洲航空的一系列丑闻已经迫使一名高管下台。该航空公司首席执行官艾伦·乔伊斯于9月16日提前两个月离职了。
乔伊斯的离开反映了公众对澳洲航空不断加深的愤怒。在乔伊斯担任首席执行官的几乎整个15年的任期里，他一直被视为一名备受争议、冷酷无情、强硬的高管。
虽然有些人称赞乔伊斯带领澳洲航空度过了2008年金融危机和新冠疫情，但他也因众多裁员和削减成本的举措而引起工会的不满。最近，由于该航空公司难以满足疫情后突然反弹的需求，乔伊斯成为了公众批评的对象。
戈伊德可能会步乔伊斯的后尘，比原计划提前离任。澳大利亚运输工人工会（Transport Workers Union）周三在一份声明中称，戈伊德之所以计划退休，是“企图体面地退休”，并要求他像乔伊斯一样提早离开澳洲航空。
包括现任首席执行官瓦妮莎•哈德森（Vanessa Hudson）在内的五名董事将在澳洲航空11月3日召开的年度股东大会上角逐董事长一职。（财富中文网）
译者：中慧言-刘嘉欢
The string of scandals at Australia’s largest airline may have claimed another head.
On Wednesday, Qantas Airways chairman Richard Goyder announced that he would retire from his post in 2024, ahead of the annual general meeting that year. The airline’s board said it recognized “the reputational issues” facing the company. Goyder has been chairman since 2018.
Goyder is the second high-profile leader to exit the airline. In September, then-CEO Alan Joyce stepped down from his post two months ahead of schedule, as his position became untenable due to growing public and political frustration with his leadership.
Investors may be ready to turn the page on Qantas’s scandals. Shares were trading up by about 2% following the announcement of Goyder’s planned retirement.
Goyder’s announcement is “a bit of a sigh of relief” for institutional investors, Jessica Amir, an Australia-based markets strategist with the trading platform MooMoo, says. “Investors want a chairman and CEO that is accountable and can rebuilt trust,” she says.
“It’s been hard to keep up with the internal drama at Qantas,” she continues.
Qantas and its flying kangaroo logo has long been an Australian icon, but the airline’s standing has diminished in the wake of multiple scandals.
Earlier this year, the airline announced its first annual profit since 2019, reporting a record $1.59 billion in profits before tax—an impressive turnaround from a loss of $1.19 billion the year before. But the bumper profits opened up the airline to public and political scrutiny, particularly on consumer and labor issues.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) took Qantas to court at the end of August for selling seats on more than 8,000 canceled flights between May and July last year. The ACCC accused the airline of continuing to sell tickets for as much as over a month after cancelling the flight.
Then last month, Australia’s top court ruled that a Qantas decision to replace 1,700 ground crew with contractors early in the pandemic was illegal.
Politicians are also concerned about how much influence the carrier has in the country’s politics. Earlier this week, an Australian Senate committee recommended that the government review a decision to deny Qatar Airways from adding extra flights to the country, allegedly made to protect Qantas.
Qantas’s run of scandals has already ousted one executive. The airline’s CEO Alan Joyce prematurely left the company on Sept. 6, two months earlier than planned.
Joyce’s departure was a reflection of the public’s growing anger with the airline. For almost his entire 15-year tenure as CEO, Joyce was seen as a controversial, ruthless and hard-edged executive.
While some praised Joyce for steering the airline through the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, he made enemies with unions due to a series of job and cost cuts. More recently, he became a target for public criticism as the airline struggled to cope with a sudden post-COVID rebound in demand.
Goyder could follow in Joyce’s wake and also have an earlier-than-planned exit. Australia’s Transport Workers Union, in a statement on Wednesday, called Goyder’s planned retirement an “attempt to retire in dignity,” and demand he follow Joyce in leaving the company early.
Five directors, including the current CEO Vanessa Hudson, will compete in an election for the chairman role on Nov. 3 at Qantas’ annual general meeting.