TRAVELCONSUMERDAILY.com
TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2010

THE FORMER No.2 executive at Qantas and the man who arguably knows more than any other in the Australian airline industry about how it works was today named head of the Virgin Blue group, replacing founder Brett Godfrey.

John Borghetti will take over in May, even though Godfrey said as recently as last week he would be in charge until December this year.

But Virgin Blue chairman Neil Chatfield denied the timetable had changed, saying it had always been the case that Godfrey would "make himself available" to the airline until the end of the year.

Borghetti, the former Qantas operations director and, before that, its sales and marketing boss, left the airline last year after he was passed over for the top job in favour of former Jetstar chief executive Alan Joyce.

Today Borghetti would not be drawn on what new programs he would bring to Australia’s No.2 airline, saying he would not telegraph changes to his competitors.

However, Godfrey has previously flagged a new program called the "airline of the future", which will consolidate the airline’s effective three-class strategy on domestic and regional services – premium economy, "traditional" economy and a user-pays discount economy.

Even though Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce did a long "apprenticeship" at top European and Australian airlines before he got the job, he doesn't have Borghetti's encyclopedic knowledge of the Australian airline scene.

Borghetti wouldn't be draw on questions today about his former employer,  but many in the industry believe he is well-placed to bring many Qantas customers with him to Virgin Blue as anecdotal feedback from Qantas customers is poor, especially about issues such as customer service (for which Virgin Blue wins awards), ageing fleet and the recent emasculation of frequent-flyer benefits.

See BEN SANDILANDS.