New Qantas chief hits the ground running

By Sonali Paul

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - The young new boss of Australian carrier Qantas Airways Ltd is wasting no time in tackling what his predecessor called the "greatest crisis in aviation history," chasing a merger with British Airways.

Alan Joyce, 42, capped his meteoric rise at the world's 10th largest airline just last Friday, replacing Geoff Dixon, who stepped down after nearly eight years as chief executive.

Joyce inherits an airline that expects to turn a profit this year, albeit down 65 percent on last year, in contrast to rivals like Korean Air Lines Co which slid to a quarterly loss.

In the quest to merge with BA, he is not only taking on a government worried about the iconic "Flying Kangaroo" hopping offshore, but unions who successfully fought off an $11 billion (7.4 billion pound) private equity takeover bid two years ago.

Joyce may be fresh-faced, but the Irishman is a 20-year airline industry veteran, starting at Aer Lingus as an analyst, armed with a double degree in physics and mathematics.

During his eight years at Ireland's national carrier, ascending through sales, marketing, network planning, revenue management and fleet planning, he worked with fellow Dubliner Willie Walsh, now head of British Airways.

"The 'x' factor in the Qantas-BA discussions might be that there's a bit of affinity between the two CEOs," said Sydney-based aviation expert Derek Sadubin, at the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, a consultancy.

Joyce flew to Australia 12 years ago for a job with now defunct Ansett, joined Qantas in 2000 and was tapped to launch its offshoot Jetstar in 2003, taking on Virgin Blue and now battling Tiger and AirAsia X in the no-frills business.