Qantas Group Appoints Susan Doniz as the New CIO

20th Dec 2016

After a long and extensive search for the new Chief Information Officer, Qantas Group Australia has finally selected Susan Doniz to replace Luc Hennekens on this position.

Doniz, a now former SAP executive, will move to Australia from her home in Canada and will officially take the CIO position at the end of January next year. Her main job will be to spearhead the carrier's digital transformation. In particular, this will include introducing the new high-speed WiFi system on Qantas planes and new mobile tools for both passengers and employees.

However, most of all, Doniz will be tasked with helping Qantas focus on big data and move to cloud. Since ditching its legacy system and moving to Amazon Web Services (AWS), the Australian carrier was able to speed up its booking processing times considerably. Qantas has increased data processing times 100 times, reduced the amount of code by 90 per cent and decreased the cost to run the service by 80 per cent.

Qantas' old legacy system was just not up to the task anymore and didn't have enough computing power to analyze whether certain flights were possible or not. As a result, the carrier had to move to AWS.

The new Qantas Group CIO said:

"Qantas isn't just an iconic company; it's one with a long history of embracing new technology. I'm really excited to be taking up the CIO role and I'm looking forward to working on the next wave of opportunities that digital change is opening up for airlines and their passengers."

Former Qantas CIO Luc Hennekens announced his decision to step down from his position in July this year and accept an offer from French Airbus Group, also as CIO. He worked three years for Qantas, ending with September, 2016.

Qantas Launches Melbourne-Tokyo Flights

Meanwhile, Qantas has launched flights between Melbourne and Tokyo. The carrier will use two-class A330-300s on the new route.

Gareth Evans, Qantas International CEO said:

"The clear message from our Japanese customers was that they wanted a direct link into Melbourne ? so we're delighted to be opening up that gateway for them today. We've had a great response from Victorian tourism operators and the many companies in Melbourne who do business with Japan. With a new Free Trade Agreement in place, there's tremendous potential to build on the fantastic growth we've already seen in this market, and we want the Qantas Group to lead the way in making it happen."