A ten-year-old boy Alex Jacquot who is a budding businessman, has founded his own airline ‘Oceania Express’ with his best friend. Alex, a class-4 student is on his school holidays and has been spending more time in developing his business for which, he wrote a letter to Qantas Airlines chief Alan Joyce seeking advice on how to run his own airline.
I’m Alex Jacquot, a 10-year-old boy (please take me seriously) and I want to start an airline,’ his handwritten letter reads.
Alex talks about the planning he has done so far, such as working out what planes are needed, flight numbers, and catering. He also explains he has enlisted the expertise of his classmates in the form of a CFO, Head of IT, Head of Maintenance, and Head of On Board Services. He then asks Mr Joyce’s advice on running an airline.
The 3 issues as outlined in the letter were – what can Alex do to utilize his school holidays in a way that is beneficial to his startup, tips on managing an airline and how to ensure passengers get good sleep on long-haul flights.
Our competitors don’t normally ask us for advice, but when an airline leader reached out, we couldn’t ignore it.
Naturally, there was only one way to respond: CEO to CEO. pic.twitter.com/JTFpzn5a6Y— Qantas (@Qantas) March 11, 2019
Surprisingly, Jacquot received a personal reply from the busy executive.
“Thank you for letting me know about your new airline,” Joyce wrote in a Feb. 19 letter.
Joyce went on to explain that he doesn’t normally give advice to competitors, but would make an exception in this case “because I too was once a young boy who was so curious about flight and all its possibilities.
Joyce invited Alex to a meeting where they could ‘compare notes’ and a tour of the Qantas operations center.
