The Chairman's Lounge
Ratings2
Average rating4.5
15
Ratings2
Average rating4.5
From the must-read journalist on how power, money and influence work in this country, the full story of how one of the nation's favorite brands brought itself to ground.
Before Covid, both Qantas and its CEO Alan Joyce were flying high, the darlings of customers, staff and investors. After Covid hit, only money mattered – in particular, the company's share price and extraordinary executive bonuses. Illegally redundant workers, unethical flight credits, abysmal customer service, antique aircraft: these became Qantas' new brand.
How did things go so badly wrong? Why were customers at the end of the queue? And how did an increasingly autocratic Joyce constantly get his own way, with the Qantas board and with both Liberal and Labor governments, which handed out over billions in subsidies and protected lucrative flight routes from foreign competition? For the first time, The Chairman's Lounge tells the full story of how one company banked the nation's loyalty and then cashed in on it.
In his celebrated Rear Window column for the Australian Financial Review , Joe Aston's reporting of the ethical failings of Qantas spurred the early retirement of its CEO and the resignation of its chairman. With fresh interviews and revelations, written in Aston's trademark swashbuckling style , The Chairman's Lounge is the definitive account of how Qantas was brought to the ground and who did it. It is a parable of our times.
Reviews with the most likes.
This is a relatively easy read and this case but it is also an important read. Aston covers Qantas, a great Australian company who lost it's way through hubris. Throughout the book there will be many instances where you'll simply exclaim, "that's not right" which gets to the heart of the story. A company, which took an excessive amount of government money, cozied up to all of the right politicians, exerted all of the soft influence in the world and did so in a way to line its own managements pockets while screwing over every day people.
Australians deserve better. You'll come away never wanting to fly Qantas again.
