Vanessa Hudson

She was labelled at the time the minister for Qantas.

So with all of that in your recent history, wouldn't you say to the boss of Qantas, Vanessa Hudson, look, that's a very kind offer.

Why don't you offer it to me when I'm not the transport minister? I mean, if you wanted to make sure it was still going to be there for a rainy day, that's one way you could say it.

Look, I just don't think it's appropriate while I'm in this portfolio area to accept such a gift.

Even though it's a short history, it's a storied history with the 380 at Qantas and at other airlines.

But I do want to say with how Qantas announced it, Vanessa Hudson actually made a statement a few days later to the Qantas group as a whole, recognising the love and support and nostalgia that she had received from the aviation community and from the Qantas group community as For the A380.

And I think...

She fully acknowledged... that this is a bigger step than anyone can really put to paper or to the public.

So that, Cumulatively, all these things take the shine off the Qantas brand.

Now, that said, I believe the airline has been making great strides under the new CEO, Vanessa Hudson.

But as you said, once trust is lost, it is hard to win back.

six, nine, three, one, double three, six, nine, three.

That's down $316 million on the previous financial year.

Vanessa Hudson said, quote, this has been another year of progress with customer satisfaction at its highest in a decade and world-leading operational performance, even as the aviation industry faced record high fuel costs and disruption from the conflict in the Middle East.

She said, we came through it with a strong result, which is what allows us to continue investing in the largest fleet renewal in our history and deliver more for customers, people, and shareholders.

Qantas International Revenue and Jetstar International Revenue both grew, but because of those higher fuel costs, the underlying EBIT dropped significantly.

Qantas domestic revenue was up 5%, Jetstar domestic up 15%.

So, and, you know, Vanessa Hudson says, what she said interesting was two very different operating environments for the financial year.

You know, in the first half, strong performance across both Qantas and Jetstar, demand growing across domestic and international networks.

You know, new aircraft like the A321XLRs allowed adding capacity, opening new routes that helped boost revenue.

The issue is, right now, it just might be too robust for the Reserve Bank, which is likely to be forced to raise interest rates again.

Well, today, we'll hear from key chief executives, Vanessa Hudson from Qantas, Rob Scott from Bunnings owner Wesfarmers, and Amanda Bardwell from Woolworths about how their consumers are faring.

In March, from the beginning of March, we did see an absolute spike in fuel price.

Bunnings in particular has shown that they're a very resilient business.

In the past year, Woolworths' average supermarket prices fell by 0.65%.

Coles average prices rose by 1.2%.

Inflation, remember, 3.5. And today you'll hear from Qantas chief executive, Vanessa Hudson.

Sales there are up, she says, because people prioritize travel spending.

I got a number of things wrong, and I apologize for them, and I take accountability for them.

Now, you left about three years ago, and Vanessa Hudson has been sort of in the pilot's seat at Qantas since then.

In your estimation, how has Qantas been going since your departure?

Really good.

Now, that's four years earlier than planned, and it's because it's switching to a more efficient suite of planes.

Yeah, in its full-year company results announced yesterday, the CEO, Vanessa Hudson, said that the airline had taken a hit from the war between the US, Israel, and Iran, and that hit was to the tune of $420 million for the year.

Now, it did post a profit of just over $2 billion before tax, but it's looking to change tack from the old A380s, which have been operating since 2008, to new planes, bear with me here, the Airbus A350-1000s and Boeing 787 Dreamliners, if you know your planes.

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