Vanessa Hudson has provided a soft landing for Qantas as the airline cuts deal with ACCC

For new CEO Vanessa Hudson – who stepped into the top job eight months ago after allegations aired in the consumer watchdog’s legal action against Qantas hastened former boss Alan Joyce’s retirement – the landmark settlement is a retreat from her predecessor’s confrontational style that many argued had trashed the airline’s brand.

For an airline that knows how to choreograph a media opportunity when there’s good news to trumpet, Hudson’s telephone-only conference call to address questions on Monday speaks volumes.

They are accepting and admitting that they misled customers by selling tickets represented on the basis of the continuation of a flight at a particular time,” ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said.

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In cutting a deal with the ACCC – which has identified Qantas as the most complained about company for two years running – Hudson has saved the airline potentially hundreds of millions of dollars and spared it from a protracted legal dispute with negative coverage.

(The cost of the alternative, Joyce-era approach will play out shortly when Qantas learns how much compensation – expected to exceed $100m – it must pay over the illegal outsourcing of 1,700 ground handlers that it fought tooth and nail to overturn.)