Four years ago, John Borghetti was passed over as CEO of Qantas. Now, as head of rival Virgin Australia, he's taking revenge. By Adele Ferguson.
"Killing Qantas slowly would be a tragedy for Qantas and our employees," Alan Joyce, the CEO of Qantas, belted out in his thick Irish accent at a late-afternoon press conference on Derby Day in October 2011. Camera crews and journalists had been told to show up at the airline's headquarters in Sydney's Mascot for a jaw-dropping announcement at 5pm. They weren't disappointed. "We have decided to ground the Qantas international and domestic fleet immediately," Joyce announced. "I repeat, we are grounding the Qantas fleet now."
