Qantas announced to the market on Thursday it had promoted Andrew Glance to succeed Olivia Wirth when she steps down from running the group’s lucrative loyalty program in February.

Glance has worked at Qantas for more than 20 years and will take over from Wirth at a pivotal time for the airline which is in the midst of a brand overhaul. Qantas’ frequent flyer program delivered record earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation last year and $1 billion in free cash flows.

Qantas Loyalty now expects to record $1 billion in earnings before 2030. Although 2023 was a horror year for the airline, which experienced serious reputation decline following a series of scandals, the airline says the number of forward bookings have remained unaffected. Some of the customer frustration with the airline is centred around the devaluation of frequent flyer points and lack of rewards seats, which have become harder to use as the program has grown.

Chief executive Vanessa Hudson, who succeeded Alan Joyce after he stepped down from the business in the heat of the turmoil last September, said Qantas was preparing to unveil improvements to the program.

“We’re working on some more improvements that we expect to announce in coming months, which we think will be very well received by our millions of members,” Hudson said.