Joyce plans to stay on as Qantas shares double from record low

Sydney

QANTAS Airways Ltd chief executive officer Alan Joyce plans to see through a A$2 billion (S$2.2 billion) cost-cutting programme at Australia's largest carrier.

With shares more than doubling this year and its international unit set to post its first profit since 2011, Mr Joyce, 48, said he's got no plans to move.

"I'm here to complete the job that I started," he said on a media call on Monday after forecasting the best half-year earnings in four years. "With the company turning the way it is, I'm very confident that my tenure - as long as the board and shareholders are comfortable with what I'm doing - will continue."

Mr Joyce's handling of 94-year-old Qantas has been criticised over the past year as it lost its investment-grade credit rating, posted A$2.8 billion of losses, and started cutting 5,000 jobs. Nick Xenophon, an independent Senator who sits on the Senate's economics committee, has called for him to resign and Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott in March blamed management for losses as he ruled out provi…