Gay Qantas CEO signs deal with 10-year-old boy who sent him cute letter
Alan Joyce welcomes fellow airline boss Alex Jacquot to Qantas. (Qantas/twitter)
Gay Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has signed a deal with 10-year-old Alex Jacquot, who sent him an adorable handwritten letter asking for advice on running an airline.
The legally non-binding memorandum of understanding between the Australian giant and the boy’s Oceania Express, which was signed during a meeting at Qantas, states that “if there are any disagreements, my mum will call your mum to sort it out.”
It also agrees that Qantas will help Oceania Express with fleet and network matters, branding and marketing, and in return will receive ideas “on how to make long-haul flying more fun for kids,” MailOnline has reported.
Remember the 10-year-old CEO who started his own airline?
We said we’d host him and his fellow executives at Qantas for a historic aviation summit.
And we weren’t joking. pic.twitter.com/v2Bf4JFrXK
— Qantas (@Qantas) March 28, 2019
The deal will reportedly come into effect in 2026—as soon as Alex has finished school.
Gay Qantas boss Alan Joyce makes good on his promise
In his letter to Joyce, Alex urged the CEO and LGBT+ activist to “please take me seriously” before explaining he had started Oceania Express airline with his friend and “Vice-CEO” Wolf Stringer.
Joyce responded by asking the boy to attend a meeting at Qantas, explaining that he “too was once a young boy who was so curious about flight and all its possibilities.”
On Wednesday (March 27), the CEO made good on his invitation, meeting with Alex, 10-year-old Wolf and Alex’s seven-year-old sister and head of inflight services, Mila Jacquot, at the Qantas headquarters in Sydney.
Alex Jacquot poses with the picture of his logo on a plane, signed by Alan Joyce. (Qantas/twitter)
As well as the memorandum of understanding, Joyce also provided the children with a new logo.
This marker was branded on business cards he gave to the budding businesspeople, along with an artist’s rendering of what an Oceania Express plane might look like.
Joyce also registered the website oceaniaexpress.com.au for Alex and his colleagues, and made sure they received a tour of an Airbus A380 and Qantas’s integrated operations centre and engineering facilities.
Alan Joyce explains why he hosted meeting with Alex Jacquot
Joyce told MailOnline that he was “impressed” by his 10-year-old industry rival, and had wanted to show him respect.
“In his letter, Alex asked me to take him seriously. So we did,” he said.
“The aviation industry needs people who think big and Alex has that in spades.”
— Alan Joyce about Alex Jacquot
“It’s hard not to be impressed by his enthusiasm. The aviation industry needs people who think big and Alex has that in spades,” said Joyce.
“It was a pleasure meeting with him and his co-founders.”
Alex said that it was “a big day for our little airline,” but was confident that his company could compete with Qantas.
“We’ve got a lot to learn from them but they can learn from us, too,” explained the 10-year-old.
“We’ve got some ideas about how to make long flights less boring. I like the Qantas inflight entertainment for kids but I think we can beat it.”
