Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) has announced the removal of the role of Qantas International chief executive officer.
Tino La Spina, who currently serves in the role, will exit the company at the end of the month.
The lengthy ongoing downtime of international flights as a result of COVID-19 forced the company’s hand, according to group chief executive Alan Joyce.
“The COVID crisis is forcing us to rethink our business at every level. It’s increasingly clear that our international flights will be grounded until at least mid-2021 and it will take years for activity to return to what it was before.”
The responsibility for international operations will be handed to Qantas Domestic CEO Andrew David, who also looks after Qantas Freight.
International fleet will be idle for a while
Joyce warned last week that the airline would concentrate on the domestic business before even thinking about re-starting its international routes.
Even the Australia–US flights, which are usually a bread-and-butter earner for the airline, would need to wait.
“The US, with the level of prevalence there is probably going to take some time. It will probably need a vaccine before we could see that happening,” he said.
“We potentially could see a vaccine by the middle or the end of next year and countries like the US may be the first country to have widespread use of that vaccine. So that could mean that the US is seen as a market by the end of 21, hopefully we could, dependent on a vaccine, start seeing flights again.”
La Spina spent 14 years at Qantas, also serving as chief financial officer.
“He’s a talented executive who brings his trademark enthusiasm to every challenge. I know I speak for the rest of the executive team and for the board in thanking him sincerely for the huge contribution he has made,” said Joyce on Monday.
Qantas last Thursday announced a $2.7 billion loss-before-tax. Its share price had since risen to rest at $3.90 over the weekend, before dropping to $3.82 in early trade today.
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