Australia’s leading transport executive has decided to call it quits, in two years.

With 45 years in aviation under his belt, Virgin Australia Chief Executive John Borghetti will not renew his contract when it expires January 1 2020.

He was appointed as Virgin’s CEO on May 8 2010, after serving as Qantas’ Executive General Manager for six years.

On his 18 months notice, he tells Ross Greenwood he believes “it’s the right thing to do”.

He shares with Ross his main concern, staff engagement, admitting it “keeps me awake”.

“This is a service business, it just happens to be an airline.

“If your staff aren’t engaged and if your staff aren’t motivated, if your staff aren’t doing the best for the people who pay good money to access your service then that’s the biggest threat you’ve got.”

As for what the future holds, Mr Borghetti believes air travel will be “about speed”.

“I really genuinely believe that air transport will be about speed and not about distance.

“Customers will be surprised at how quickly supersonic travel is going to hit the market.”

Listen to the full interview below