New Chief Executive at Qantas Hot Stocks

Qantas Airways said that Alan Joyce would take over as chief executive and replace Geoff Dixon, who steps down after a string of cost-cutting measures.

Joyce, an Irishman who has headed Qantas’s no-frills carrier Jetstar since 2003, takes over as soaring fuel costs have threatened profits across what Dixon has described as “one of the toughest industries.”

This month Qantas reduced 4 percent of its workforce and canceled growth plans. It was the airline’s fifth cost cutting measure in three months.

Joyce, 42, has worked in aviation for 20 years.

Addressing journalists, he promised “a continuation of a lot of the strategies Geoff has employed. The key message is continuity.”

Originally published by Reuters.

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