One airline led by an Irishman is set to emerge from Covid stronger than ever

“It’s survival of the fittest,” he predicts.

People prepare to board a Qantas Airways jet at Sydney Airport in Sydney.

It’s the final Wednesday of January 2020, the coronavirus has yet to claim anyone outside of China, and Qantas Airways Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce is all smiles and handshakes. He’s flown almost two hours north from Sydney to the mining town of Toowoomba to open a pilot academy. In the sweltering heat of the open hangar, he tells a crowd of staff, students and local politicians that graduates will one day captain the giant Airbus SE A380s or Boeing Co. Dreamliners that anchor the iconic Australian airline’s long-haul network.

There’s little mention of the virus that weeks later would lay waste to global aviation. Yet on the plane trip back to Qantas’s headquarters that afternoon, Joyce is already focusing on the looming battle. In an interview from his usual seat -- 1A -- he says he’ll do whatever it takes to come out of the pandemic on top.