Skift Take
Virgin Australia's CEO has taken it from low-cost carrier to business class in a move that directly challenges his former employer Qantas. It's not the winner yet, but it's possible there's room for both in Australia's domestic market.
Know your enemy and know yourself. John Borghetti, chief executive of Virgin Australia, certainly does. He spent 36 years at Qantas before quitting the Australian flag carrier after losing out to Alan Joyce in the race for the top job. Now the energetic 56-year-old is taking revenge.
Not that the former Qantas general manager puts it quite that way, of course. The sharply dressed Mr Borghetti says he just wants a large slice of the Australian travel market, which Qantas – or, the “competition”, as he refers to the carrier – has dominated since Ansett, an Australian airline, was placed into administration 11 years ago.
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