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SYDNEY - Qantas chief Geoff Dixon has ruled out staying as head of the airline beyond his current term, saying "there is a time to move on".
Speaking on Australia's Sky News Dixon said he was unlikely to stay beyond his current contract, which ends in July 2009.
Dixon has been at the helm of Qantas since 2000.
"There is a time to move on, and I don't think the board or myself would contemplate anything after the time we've said, unless there is something out there I don't see," he said.
"I really do think it would be time to move on.
"It would almost be nine years I think running the company then, and I was deputy for a couple of years before that.
"I'm not Wal King [Leighton Holdings chief executive]. Wal can go on forever, he's a special breed, but I think I've got to do other things."
Last week Qantas reported a net profit increase this year of 49 per cent to A$719.4 million.
Revenue was up 11 per cent to A$15.17 billion.
Dixon attributed the result to the airline's "two brands" strategy, saying low-budget carrier Jetstar had added A$250 million to Qantas' bottom line over the past three years.
He said there was scope for Jetstar to grow further, and predicted the low-cost airline would move into international routes abandoned by Qantas because they had become unprofitable.
"We're moving it into international areas, and it will go into routes where we know Qantas finds it very difficult to make money," Dixon said.
"Jetstar will go back into markets where Qantas pulled out many years ago - places like Greece and Italy - and I believe they can make that viable with the new aircraft they get in August.
"The Boeing 787s will enable a one-stop flight to Athens via Bangkok."
Dixon said new low-cost airline Tiger, which enters the Australian market in November, had affected Jetstar's yields.
"There is a deterioration in Jetstar's yields in the second half of the year as they've matched Tiger as it's announced its restructure and started selling," he said.
"But we just have to make amends for those things and to make sure we can still bring in the result we want to bring in."
Dixon also refused to apologise to shareholders for the turmoil caused by this year's failed A$11.1 billion private equity bid for the company, which had the full backing of the Qantas board.
"I think what we and our shareholders should be thinking is that they have a very good company.
"The board and the management - and our people out there - have been the people who have created that. And we've worked very hard at it.
"I don't see why anybody should apologise."
- AAP