Emerson’s appointment comes after current CEO, Jayne Hrdlicka, indicated her intentions to leave the airline over a year ago.
Emerson is Stanford educated and started out in the airline industry in 1989 as a customer service representative at America West Airlines.
After completing an MBA, he joined Bain & Company. Aside from a four-and-a-half-year window last decade, Emerson has worked for Bain through the majority of his career before becoming Virgin Australia’s CCO in 2021 when Bain Capital, a separate company affiliated with Bain & Company, rescued the airline from administration.
“After a global search, it was clear that Dave is the right leader to continue the implementation of Virgin Australia’s strategy,” said Virgin Australia’s chair, Ryan Cotton.
“Detailed plans are in place which will deliver continued growth, strong business performance and continuity of strategy further enhancing Virgin Australia’s competitive position in the Australian market.
“Dave also appreciates what is special about Virgin Australia – our team and our people – and will continue to act as a steward of our amazing culture.
“We are confident Dave will not miss a beat in leading continued strong performance and growth across our business.
“Having had the opportunity to work with Dave over the last four years we recognise his unique breadth of commercial, digital and customer experience plus his deep knowledge of Australian aviation.
“He is well placed to support the strong momentum of the business and ensure the team continues to go from strength to strength.
“Dave has been a core part of the team, developing our plans for transformation and growth of the business, with our team and customers very much at the core. He is well-respected right across our organisation,” said Cotton.
Emerson said he was “humbled” by the opportunity to lead the airline, which employs 8,000 people.
“I have experienced firsthand the remarkable journey over the past four years as we have reinvented Virgin Australia.
“We exist for our customers, but it is our people who are the heart of this organisation. They are central to our brand and our key differentiator in the highly competitive Australian aviation landscape.
“I will continue the transformation journey begun under Jayne’s outstanding leadership.
“The strategy we set as we emerged from administration several years ago is now paying off.
“As we return to long-haul international flying, and innovate our domestic services, we can open greater choice and even better value travel experiences for our customers, including more opportunities to reward them for their loyalty. Importantly, it also creates new opportunities for our team.”
Virgin Australia will resume long-haul international services in June, flying to Doha from Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. The move has been made possible by a close partnership with Qatar Airways who has just received approval from the Australian Government to acquire a 25 per cent stake in Virgin Australia from Bain Capital.
Emerson will officially take over as CEO on March 14.
