Qantas boss Alan Joyce nets $287k pay rise despite airline’s woes

theguardian.com:

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce’s pay increased by $287,000 in the past year amid delays, cancellations and other problems that have plagued the airline and damaged its reputation, the company’s annual report reveals.

The total value of his pay packet rose from $5,288,000 in 2021 to $5,575,000 this year, mainly because Joyce’s base pay returned to its pre-pandemic level of a little over $2.1m after two years in which he voluntarily took a cut due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which grounded the airline’s fleet of planes.

However, Joyce did not receive a bonus this year, as the scheme was suspended and will not return until next year.

The report, filed with the stock exchange on Friday, also shows the Qantas board has decided to rejig the pay packages of Joyce and other senior executives so that short-term bonuses better reflect customer service and the airline’s reputation.

Qantas needs “to do more to deliver the service our customers expect”, the chair of the board’s remuneration committee, Jacqueline Hey, said in the report.

She said the new bonus scheme will “prioritise a combination of key operational measures like punctuality and reliability of our airlines, customer satisfaction … and the group’s reputation and trust, to align executive incentive outcomes to our customers’ experience”.

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Both Qantas and its budget subsidiary, Jetstar, have been plagued by delays, cancellations and other problems as air travel bounced back from the pandemic this year.

Joyce was forced to apologise after blaming customers for not being “match fit” to fly as queues snaked around airports in April.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission this week said