Qantas chairman Richard Goyder is refusing to quit as big investors and consumers continue to demand his head over the reputational crisis damaging the airline. Key points Mr Goyder maintains he has the confidence of the Qantas board and major investors He says criticism needs to be viewed in the context of the pandemic and the reality that Qantas went to the brink of insolvency He denied any wrongdoing over ACCC allegations that Qantas sold fares for flights that had been cancelled In his first broadcast interview since the ACCC alleged Qantas sold fares for cancelled flights, Mr Goyder maintains he has the confidence of the Qantas board and says major investors want him to stay. “While I retain that confidence I’ll get to work and do the things we need to do to deal with some of the issues we’ve got at the moment,” Mr Goyder told The World Today. “And the latest read I’ve got is that people want me to continue to do the role.”   While Mr Goyder concedes big mistakes have been made, he says the firestorm of criticism needs to be viewed in the context of the pandemic and the reality that Qantas went to the brink of insolvency. “Shareholders are very supportive of the work we’re doing now,” he said.  “On the customer side if things, we know we’ve got some work to do. We know we’ve let people down. “I think in hindsight, we tried to come out of the COVID lockdowns too rapidly. Mr Goyder was Qantas chairman when the company outsourced 1,700 ground staff in late 2020 at the height of the pandemic.  AAP Dave Hunt “And that was probably a combination of us wanting to get people back to work and us wanting to get our customers to places that they hadn’t been able to get to as borders reopened.” And as the damage control accelerates, Mr Goyder said Qantas needed to become a different airline. “I think we need a reasonable dose of humility now because we need to make sure we satisfy all our stakeholders and particularly our customers,” he said.  Mr Goyder was careful not to comment on ACCC allegations that Qantas sold fares for flights that had been cancelled, but denied any wrongdoing. “I can’t say a lot about this at the moment, because it’s a legal case. But any suggestion that we took fees for no service is just wrong,” Mr Goyder said. Mr Goyder was Qantas chairman when the company outsourced 1,700 ground staff in late 2020 at the height of the pandemic, which the High Court last week ruled as unlawful. Loading… Mr Goyder says Qantas accepts the ruling and says new CEO Vanessa Hudson will soon start mediating to settle the case. “We regret the impact that had on the 1,700 people. At the time, we were in survival mode,” Mr Goyder said. “You’ll recall that the other airline in Australia Virgin Australia didn’t survive, owing creditors more than $7 billion and there was no COVID vaccine. “There was no idea when borders may open and courts actually held that we had sound commercial reasons for making the decision.” Mr Goyder also defended the decision to allow Alan Joyce to sell 90 per cent of his shares worth $17 million in June 1 this year before the ACCC action was announced, but while ACCC investigations were underway. Mr Goyder also confirmed he would attend a Senate inquiry looking into Qantas’s lobbying power. John Gunn “We have very clear roles and processes about when executives and directors can sell shares,” Mr Goyder said. “Alan hadn’t sold many shares in his entire time as CEO and he met every requirement to sell shares. “Also, it’s not unusual for a company to have regulators making inquiries on various things at the time, and the ACCC inquiry was to do with COVID credits.” Qantas paid former CEO Alan Joyce $21.4 million last financial year Former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce was paid $21.4 million in the last financial year, but more than half could be subjected to a clawback by the airline’s board. Mr Goyder said the board’s decision on Mr Joyce’s final payout, where $14.4 million could be at risk, depended on the outcome of the ACCC’s Federal Court action. “All of Alan’s remuneration had been approved previously by shareholders and the reputational issues we’re dealing with at the moment from the ACCC is yet to be proven,” Mr Goyder said. Mr Goyder also confirmed he would attend a Senate inquiry into aviation services, which resumes next week. The inquiry is set to examine Qantas’s lobbying power in Canberra in addition to the rejection of a Qatar Airways proposal to increase flights into Australia.