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Transcript: Geoff Dixon, CEO of Qantas

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SYDNEY, Australia(CNN) -- Geoff Dixon says he deals well with stress, "I agonize over decisions once I have made them and I wonder about the consequences but I can move on."

It's a good quality to have when you're the head of an airline, given all the turbulence in the industry over the past several years.

Dixon has served as CEO of the Australian flag-carrier Qantas since 2001. He's piloted the flying kangaroo through just about everything, from the aftermath of 9/11, to SARS, to record oil prices. To do that, he's radically shaken up Qantas.

And today it's one of the world's most profitable airlines.

CNN's Andrew Stevens caught up with Dixon in Sydney.

Stevens: You have been the CEO of Qantas for six years, probably the six toughest years the industry has ever seen. What keeps you going, what keeps you interested?

Dixon: Oh the excitement of the chase I suppose. I enjoy the job and the board asked me to stay on and I like it so it is no more simple than that. As a matter of fact I like what I am doing, while they want me to work, I will continue to work. I inherited a very good airline where a lot of change had been made after privatization, but then everything seemed to happen at once and obviously there were real doubts about the viability of a lot of airlines not just Qantas and I have got tremendous satisfaction about how the management team and the board and indeed the people despite all of the change had come along with us and that we have been able to really be one of the very few airlines in the world that has consistently made decent money.

Stevens: What is the single toughest thing about running an airline like Qantas?

Dixon: I think there is a range of things Andrew. But I do think that overcapacity is a big issue and the overcapacity obviously is mainly driven by the fact that there is a great degree of government ownership. In the United States there is a great degree of change and airlines being kept going through chapter 11 bankruptcy. I would say 60-65% of the airlines in the world are in those two categories and that just distorts everything you do.

Stevens: You started your career as a cadet journalist in an Australian country town, do you think that has shaped you at all in your future career?

Dixon: Journalism makes you think very very quickly I believe it gives you a very wide view of the world you see a lot of different things and it gave me a sense of excitement which I have carried through into jobs. I have always wanted jobs that were a bit different. I obviously would not be suited for a normal nine to five job. And by the way I have never ever sat down and said "now what should I be doing in five years time?" I have generally said I will see what comes up.

Stevens: Live for the moment?

Dixon: Yes and that has obviously worked for me.

Stevens: You don't have a university degree, do you think in the 21st century someone could get to where you are now without a degree?

Dixon: Yeah I think they can but it is more than likely to be more difficult. I think it is difficult when you are going up the ladder perhaps but when you get to a certain level I think you are then competing and being judged by people who are going to hire you on your performance and your intellect not on a piece of paper. But I would advise everyone to get out there and get that piece of paper.

Stevens: You say you deal easily with stress others might say you thrive on stress but do you worry that when you do retire that you are going to miss that level of engagement?

Dixon: I will do other things. I don't think that I will be too concerned when the time comes to stop working with Qantas. I have other opportunities to work not quite as much and I will just then go to doing things like reading and by the way traveling, which I love, but traveling without being under so much scrutiny as when you travel as CEO of an airline.

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