Qantas chief’s pay nosedives as slump hits airline profits
QANTAS’ chief executive Alan Joyce saw his earnings plummet by 28 per cent last year as the Australian flag-carrier’s low share price took its toll.
Joyce, who took on the top job in November last year – just as the airline industry began to falter – was
paid A$3.7m (£1.8m) for the year to June.
The sum is down from the A$5.1m he trousered the previous year, while he was running discount carrier Jetstar, a Qantas subsidiary.
Joyce’s promotion to Qantas boss saw his salary hit A$1.7m, up from A$1.1m, but the value of his share-based income fell by over A$1m.
Because of the downturn, he received no short-term cash incentives, which had earned him A$1.2m as the head of Jetstar in 2008
Geoff Dixon, the previous Qantas chief executive, received an annual income of A$10.7m for the period, despite serving for just five months of the year.
The former boss, who ran Qantas for around eight years, saw his remuneration package boosted by A$2.4m in unused annual leave and a termination payment.
Qantas shares slumped by 34 per cent in the year to June, as the group followed the trend across the industry and reported massive losses in the second half.
Joyce has been seeking to tackle the massive slump in business and first class travel, which has been exacerbated by a huge number of job losses in financial services, by slashing fares and offering two-for-one promotions on premium class tickets.