Virgin Australia has reorganised its senior leadership team, with the appointment of a new chief customer officer and the departure of its strategy chief.
The airline will appoint Andrew Cleary as chief customer officer and head of its Velocity frequent flyer programme, effective 23 March.
Cleary joins from Hong Kong’s Mandarin Oriental hotel where he lead the global customer experience team. He had previously held senior management roles at Qantas, in departments such as loyalty customer experience and alliance partnerships.
Cleary takes over from Nick Rohrlach, who was CEO of the Velocity programme, as well as group executive at Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (VARA).
Rohrlach, who will leave the airline on 30 April, joined Virgin Australia in September 2021, as the airline exited its business restructuring. He also led VARA for over two years, overseeing its order for – and eventual transition to – Embraer E190 E2s for its Western Australia charter operations.
Virgin Australia also confirms the departure of its chief strategy and transformation officer Alistair Hartley, who steps down on 30 April.
Hartley’s departure comes as Virgin Australia moves the strategy and transformation team to report directly to airline chief Dave Emerson. The move is “an acknowledgement of the critical nature” of the team’s work, the airline adds.
Hartley had been “instrumental in the successful delivery” of the airline’s transformation programme after it emerged from restructuring. He had also supported the airline’s re-listing in June 2025, as well as its strategic partnership with shareholder Qatar Airways.
Emerson states: “As Virgin Australia continues its transformation strategy following a successful IPO and the integration of our Qatar Airways partnership, we are reorganising our leadership structure to drive greater customer-centricity and commercial performance.”
He adds: “Combining our customer experience, marketing, and Velocity loyalty capabilities under unified leadership will enable faster decision-making, better integration of customer data and insights, and enhanced value creation from our loyalty ecosystem.”
