Qantas Drops International CEO With Overseas Flights Grounded

Qantas Airways Ltd. scrapped the executive role overseeing international services because those flights will be grounded for at least another year.

The head of Qantas’ international business, Tino La Spina, will leave and his division will be consolidated with the airline’s domestic operations, Qantas said Monday. La Spina worked for the airline for 14 years and was its former chief financial officer.

“It will take years for activity to return to what it was before,” Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce said in the statement. “The COVID crisis is forcing us to rethink our business at every level.”

La Spina’s departure shows Joyce is prepared to remove even his most experienced executives to cut costs and weather the crisis. He’s already eliminating 6,000 jobs, and last week reported Qantas’ first loss in six years. The international fleet is grounded until at least mid-2021.