(Reuters) -Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd's outgoing chief executive, Alan Joyce, on Tuesday sold A$16.9 million ($11.3 million) of shares in the airline, ahead of his retirement in November.

Joyce, who served as the airline's CEO for 15 long years, has offloaded 2.5 million shares for A$6.75 a piece, leaving him with a holding of just 228,924 in the company, according to an exchange filing.

The stake disposal by the soon-to-be former chief executive comes after the flagship carrier named finance chief Vanessa Hudson as its next CEO.

Hudson would make history as the first woman to ever lead the century-old airline.

Shares in the airline finished Tuesday's session down 4.1%, marking its worst day in over 11 weeks.

($1 = 1.4995 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Roushni Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)