Qantas loyalty boss parachutes out of the scandal-plagued airline

Sometimes the losing contender waits to find another job before they press the eject button but if that doesn’t happen, the best way to advertise being back in the job’s market is to announce their resignation.

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The other scenario is that the winning candidate for the top job – in this case Hudson – edges out the loser. But this is unlikely to have been the case at Qantas.

Firstly, Hudson is too busy in damage control and losing one of her high-profile key direct reports only serves to perpetuate the perception that Qantas is lurching from one drama to the next.

The loyalty boss, with her career patrons Joyce and Goyder having departed or announced their plans to exit, has shifted her own loyalties and is now looking to build a life outside Qantas.

As for her tenure at the airline, Wirth has earned plaudits for growing the profits of the Qantas Frequent Flyer program. The division’s underlying profit in 2023 came in at $450 million. However, she must also shoulder some of the burden of the calumny heaped at the airline given that one of the biggest area of complaints for customers is their inability to access flights using points.

While new CEO Hudson also of carries the baggage of supporting many of the decisions made by Joyce that instigated the crisis at Qantas, the difference is that she has the chance to author the airline’s rehabilitation.

Meanwhile, Wirth’s particular skills are narrow in focus. Having already run the largest loyalty business in the country, moving to a similar gig at any another company would be a demotion.

She will likely cast a much wider net – using her marketing and data credentials as a lure.

She doesn’t have the background of running an airline – unlike former Qantas executive and now Virgin chief executive, Jayne Hrdlicka, Wirth has never had jet fuel in her veins. And unlike Hudson, she hasn’t got any finance credentials on her resume.

Wirth’s 14-year career at Qantas began in public relations before she moved on to run corporate affairs, then brand and marketing, before scoring the role of chief customer officer and ultimately head of loyalty.

It has been an impressive trajectory for Wirth, who ran a close second to Hudson in taking Joyce’s crown. But having lost that tussle, Wirth’s mid-career move can’t come soon enough.

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