A former Qantas pilot has been ordered by the Federal Court to return documents he allegedly stole when he was about to leave the airline for a role with rival Virgin Australia.
Captain Luke Fogarty resigned from his position as a manager in Qantas’ headquarters in Sydney Airport in September to work for Virgin.
Qantas’ statement of claim alleged that some time between September 15 and 17, Mr Fogarty ‘copied several thousand megabytes of electronic documents’ from its file servers to a laptop.
He then allegedly transmitted the items to an iCloud storage account or a private email.
Qantas asked the Federal Court that Mr Fogarty be stopped from copying or reviewing the documents, and those orders were granted by Justice Michael Wigney on October 17, the Financial Review reported.
The court also ordered Mr Fogarty to destroy any hard copies of the documents and delete the electronic files so they could not be retrieved.
‘The vast and detailed extent of the information contained in the documents and concerning several facets of the Qantas business as a large-scale provider of commercial aviation services, is such that it may reasonably be presumed to exceed Mr Fogarty’s general know-how,’ the national carrier told the court.
The airline said Mr Fogarty’s contract with it required him to use confidential information only for his duties, and to take all necessary precautions to stop the disclosure of that information.
A former Qantas pilot has been ordered by the Federal Court to return documents he allegedly stole when he was about to leave the airline for a role with rival Virgin Australia. Stock image
Qantas’ (plane pictured) statement of claim alleged that some time between September 15 and 17, Mr Fogarty ‘copied several thousand megabytes of electronic documents’ from its servers
Qantas alleged Mr Fogarty breached that contract, and said the airline ‘suffered damage to its business, goodwill and reputation’.
It claimed that damage arose ‘from the use he was capable of making of the documents in his role at Virgin, and the springboard advantage that he is afforded by reason of his breaches’.
The Australian reported that Qantas’ also said ‘The confidential documents concern Qantas’ commercially sensitive business affairs, including aircraft procurement, commercial strategy and operations management …
‘The documents are subject to measures put in place by Qantas to prevent them from disclosure, are not in the public domain and are confidential to Qantas.’
Qantas also asked the court for compensation for losses it said was caused by Mr Fogarty’s alleged breach of confidence.
Mr Fogarty is reportedly not due to take up his role at Virgin Australia until early 2025, due to a non-compete clause in his Qantas contract.
Virgin Australia is not a party to the case between Qantas and Mr Fogarty, which is due to return to the Federal Court on November 18.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Qantas and Virgin Australia for comment.
