Alan Joyce thinks it could’ve been worse

July 27, 2026 — 4:02pm

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In mid-2023, while travelling in Europe, your correspondent was subjected to a real-life horror movie known as Air Serbia.

After that ordeal – which involved days stuck in the post-Soviet liminal space that is Belgrade Airport, bags lost multiple times, flights missed multiple times, airline staff nearly coming to blows with frustrated customers multiple times – it was rather quaint returning to Australia and the news that Alan Joyce was departing early as Qantas chief executive, fleeing the firestorm of public outrage that had engulfed his final years in charge.

Sure, under Joyce, Qantas had illegally sacked 1820 workers, sold tickets to flights that didn’t exist, given the prime minister’s son access to an exclusive invite-only club, and degraded the customer experience so severely that the storied national carrier had by then become a national joke.

But on the whole, were things really that bad? Some of you have never endured the likes of Air Serbia, and it shows!

This is effectively the argument made by Joyce when he emerged this week after nearly three years........

© The Age