Virgin Australia executive John Thomas heads for the exit

Just in: Virgin Australia exec John Thomas, widely regarded as John Borghetti's successor, will leave the airline after less than a year in the job.

Thomas, whom Borghetti wooed and hand-picked to run Virgin Australia's domestic and international arm as Group Executive of Virgin Australia Airlines, will leave tomorrow, Friday June 30.

While Thomas is widely regarded in the industry, it's believed that his skillset as a consultant did not prove to be the right fit as an airline executive, particularly as a potential CEO of Virgin Australia.

In an email sent to Virgin Australia staff this evening, Borghetti noted that Thomas “has been instrumental in introducing product innovations including the trial and plans for inflight wifi, rolling out new ancillary revenue opportunities including EconomyX, working on the next phase of the VAA strategy and assisting in the delivery of the Better Business program.”

Thomas' role will be temporarily filled by Rob Sharp, who has served as CEO of Tigerair Australia since mid-2013 and before that, was a 15 year veteran of Qantas, where he was General Manager of Strategy and Business Innovation and helmed global airport infrastructure and services.

Nice story. I'd be changing my name by depole though. 😂

Interesting albeit disappointing news. I always thought Thomas would be a good fit to get VA to its former niche. 

I thought he was a great guy, probably to nice and thats how he got nailed. Shows the culture at Virgin.

Virgin Australia has lost its way in the wilderness.

The writing is on the wall and the rats are leaving the sinking ship!