Virgin Australia has announced that its CEO Paul Scurrah is leaving the company and will be replaced by former Jetstar CEO Jayne Hrdlicka.
The leadership changeover will occur after Virgin’s sale to Bain Capital is closed, which is expected to occur in early November. Bain’s bid to buy Virgin was accepted during the airline’s administration process.
Hrdlicka was an airline consultant before spending eight years with the Qantas Group, most notably as the leader of LCC subsidiary Jetstar. She left the group in 2018 and was an advisor to Bain during its bid for Virgin. Hrdlicka was previously expected to take a board position on Virgin following the takeover.
Scurrah has been CEO of Virgin Australia since March 2019, after long-time leader John Borghetti stepped down. Scurrah was leading a turnaround effort at Virgin, but the airline’s finances were devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Bain supported the restructuring plan proposed by Scurrah.
Scurrah “made a significant contribution in leading the business through bankruptcy, administration, and the challenges of COVID-19,” Bain Capital MD Mike Murphy said.
However, Virgin “requires a different form of leadership to survive in the long term,” Murphy said. “Given the environment, we need a hands-on CEO with deep aviation, commercial, operational and transformation experience.” Murphy added that Hrdlicka fits that description.
Scurrah noted that having overseen the change in ownership and restructuring, “the time feels right” to depart. Scurrah said the carrier “will be in good hands.”
Local media reports had speculated that Scurrah had clashed with Bain regarding what business model Virgin should use. In his resignation announcement, Scurrah said he “reaffirmed with Bain Capital that Virgin Australia will not be repositioned as a low-cost carrier.” Rather, it will have a hybrid business model as proposed in Scurrah’s plan.
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