Former Qantas boss Alan Joyce faces jail threat over Senate aviation inquiry

Alan Joyce could face a prison sentence if he fails to lead a Senate inquiry into the blocking of additional Qatar Airways flights.

The former Qantas chief has been warned he will face the investigation when he returns to Australia from a European holiday.

Coalition Senator Bridget McKenzie warned Mr Joyce he could face a ‘whole raft of lawsuits’ if he refuses to answer questions about the government’s decision to reject a Qatar Airways bid to increase flights to major Australian cities to enter, to block.

The parliamentary committee hearing has heard Australians would have benefited from cheaper airfares by Christmas if the government had not stopped rival Qatar Airways from adding another 28 routes.

Mr Joyce has important information from discussions with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Transport Minister Catherine King about the decision,” she said.

“He is the only one who can access conversations he has had informally with his bromance partner, the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese and even Secretary King,” Senator McKenzie told reporters on Thursday.

“There is a process within the Senate’s rules and procedures that will ultimately make it very difficult for former CEO Joyce not to appear.”

Senator McKenzie warned that someone had been jailed in the 1950s for ignoring a subpoena, but said she hoped “we wouldn’t get there.”

Mr Joyce had told the inquiry he could not attend in person or via video link due to personal commitments while traveling abroad.

Meanwhile, Virgin Australia CEO Jayne Hrdlicka led the inquiry on Wednesday, telling senators she had spoken about Qatar’s bid for “five minutes at best” during an hour-long meeting with the transport minister.

She said Ms King told her Mr Joyce was “not happy” with Qatar’s offer and was looking to meet.

‘Yet I got the clear impression that the decision to continue was very compelling and threatening.

“Based on this conversation, I felt comfortable that Qatar would receive additional air rights,” Ms. Hrdlicka said.

Senator McKenzie also formally invited Ms King to lead the investigation.

The dramas are the latest in a series of problems that have plagued Qantas in recent weeks – with the biggest two potentially costing the airline hundreds of millions of dollars in fines.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is taking the airline to Federal Court, claiming it sold tickets for thousands of already canceled flights.

While the High Court agreed earlier this month that the airline’s dismissal of 1,700 employees during the Covid pandemic was illegal under the Fair Work Act.

New Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson was given a baptism of fire on Tuesday after she was accused of channeling her predecessor Joyce by failing to answer questions during a Senate inquiry.

The new CEO was flogged by Senator McKenzie for being unwilling to answer questions about the Yes campaign logos painted on the side of Qantas jets on Wednesday.

“I hope you will respect it because filibustering may have been the former CEO’s strategy,” she said.

“I don’t appreciate it from the current one.”

Qantas showed its support for Indigenous Voice to Parliament in August by adding a Yes design to the side of three of their aircraft.

Ms Hudson had to answer a question about who made the decision to design the planes.

When asked who made the decision to support the Yes campaign, the airline said it was made by Mr Joyce in consultation with the group’s management committee, and not by the airline’s board.

Earlier, Ms Hudson reiterated her apology to consumers and stakeholders, starting her appearance at the inquiry with another ‘sorry’.

“There have been times when we have let the wider Australian public down and we understand why people are frustrated and also why some have lost confidence in us,” she said.

‘As the new CEO. I am determined to solve that.’