Alan Joyce (executive)

Joyce was born and raised in Tallaght, now a suburb of Dublin, Ireland. 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 and Trinity College Dublin. 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.[2]

In 1988, Joyce commenced work at Aer Lingus, the flag carrier of Ireland. He held various positions in sales, marketing, information technology, network planning, operations research, revenue management and fleet planning.[2] In 1996, he resigned to join the now-defunct Ansett Australia.[3] In 2000, Joyce joined Qantas.[4] At both Ansett Australia and Qantas, he headed the Network Planning, Schedules Planning and Network Strategy functions.[2] Joyce was appointed CEO of Qantas subsidiary Jetstar Airways in October 2003.[2][5]

Joyce, who is gay, supports the LGBTI community and personally donated $1 million towards the campaign to legalise same-sex marriage in Australia,[18] 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".[19] For his work, he has been recognised on a global list of LGBT executives.[20] As CEO, Joyce has pledged Qantas will "continue social-justice campaigning".[21][18][22]

• The Australian named Joyce the most influential business leader in 2011.[7]
• Joyce is an Ambassador of the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation (AIEF).[23][24]
• Joyce was named a Companion of the Order of Australia, Australia's highest civil honour, in the 2017 Queen's birthday honours list.[25] This honour was awarded for "eminent service to the aviation transport industry, to the development of the national and international tourism sectors, to gender equity, inclusion and diversity, and to the community, particularly as a supporter of Indigenous education".[22]

Joyce identifies as being Catholic.[26] 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.[27]

Joyce is openly gay and is married to his long-term New Zealander partner, Shane Lloyd. The two married on November 2, 2019 on the rooftop of The Museum of Contemporary Art in Circular Quay.[28][29] The couple live in the Rocks, an inner suburb of Sydney.[29]

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.[30][31] [32]

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."[33]

On 24 June 2011, the Sydney Morning Herald 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 had argued that "there is no evidence to suggest that [the cadet training schemes] approach has resulted in any diminution of safety standards."[34]

• 2011 industrial unrest and grounding of fleet
• 2011 Qantas industrial disputes

• Qantas profile - Alan Joyce