Joyce, Alan (1966-…), is an Australian businessman. From 2008 to 2023, he was the chief executive officer (CEO) of Qantas Group, which includes Qantas Airways Limited. In 2012, the national newspaper The Australian named Joyce the most influential business leader in the country. Joyce is originally from Ireland.
Alan Joseph Joyce was born on June 30, 1966, in the village of Tallaght, now part of the Dublin, Ireland, metropolitan area. He attended both the Dublin Institute of Technology and Trinity College Dublin, earning a bachelor’s degree in applied science and a master’s degree in management science. In 1988, Joyce joined Aer Lingus, the national airline of the Republic of Ireland, where he worked in a variety of sales, marketing, and technological areas. Joyce left Aer Lingus in 1996 to work for Ansett Australia, at that time a major Australian domestic and international airline. Joyce joined Qantas in 2000. In 2003, he was appointed CEO of the Qantas subsidiary Jetstar Airways. Joyce became CEO of Qantas Group in 2008 and retired from that role in 2023.
In 2015, Joyce was named the CAPA airline chief executive of the year by the industry group CAPA Centre for Aviation in Helsinki, Finland. During a massive restructuring, Joyce steered Qantas to profitability in 2015 following the struggling airline’s record $2.84 billion loss the previous year. Joyce had faced numerous calls for his resignation amid mounting losses and his failure to secure a government bailout during the airline’s worst financial crisis. In 2017, Joyce was ranked first on an annual list of the top 100 LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) executives presented by the OUTstanding professional networking group and the Financial Times British news organization.
Joyce is a fellow of the Australian division of the Royal Aeronautical Society, an international professional organization. He is also an ambassador of the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation, a nonprofit organization that focuses on helping Indigenous (native) children in financial need to pursue an education.
