Qantas has revealed its new chief information officer -- Jamila Gordon -- who will take over the role from this September.
Gordon joins Qantas after roles at GIO, Deloitte and Touche and, most recently, IBM, where she oversaw the IT transformation and service delivery across 11 countries for a major European bank.
According to Peter Gregg, CFO at Qantas, Gordon will bring experience in managing outsourcing deals which will benefit the airline in its ongoing IT transformation.
Gordon becomes the third Qantas CIO in a little over 18 months. Former CIO Fiona Balfour left the airline in March 2006 after 14 years of service and subsequently joined Telstra in a parallel role, leaving after 10 months at the telco. She was succeeded by a then colleague, John Willett, who will retire in October.
Gordon joins the airline at a time of rising IT costs. According to the company's recent annual results, Qantas's spend on "computing and communications" jumped from AU$487.5 million in the year ended June 2006 to AU$527 million in the year ended June 2007 -- a year-on-year increase of nearly eight percent.
Qantas is also experimenting with more technology for passengers across its fleet of aircraft. The introduction of in-flight Web access is expected to go live in some planes from next year, along with in-seat USB ports.
