Qantas execs ‘punished’ with cut to bonuses for cyber attack as Joyce pockets another $3.8m
A cyber attack on Qantas customers has cost chief executive Vanessa Hudson $250,000 while her predecessor, Alan Joyce, has received a multimillion-dollar pay cheque.
Former Qantas boss Alan Joyce is blocked from cashing out his final $3.8m executive windfall for one year, after the board released the remaining shares owed from his tumultuous but highly profitable last lap.
Those shares come with a 12-month trading restriction, according to the terms under which they were issued and waved through by shareholders in a 2022 vote.
A major cyber attack on Qantas customers, meanwhile, sliced $250,000 off chief executive Vanessa Hudson’s take home pay. The Qantas annual report published on Friday revealed Ms Hudson earned $6.3m for the 2025 financial year, up from $4.4m.
The airline separately confirmed Mr Joyce’s last financial award thanks to a healthy increase in the share price since he resigned, leaving Ms Hudson to inherit a court contest with the ACCC, a record penalty for illegally sacking 1800 workers and a brand and reputational collapse.
Under Ms Hudson’s CEO-ship, Qantas shares have climbed from $5.54 to $11.85 on Friday.
Mr Joyce’s payment was made through a long-term 2023-2025 incentive scheme, arising from over 350,000 rights to shares which have now vested as a result of performance hurdles being met.
The value of those rights was less than $2.2m when Mr Joyce brought forward his exit, having ruled off Qantas’s record 2023 $2.465bn underlying pre-tax profit. Their value in 12 months’ time will depend on the prevailing share price in 2026.
Executives were rewarded with a 3 per cent lift in base salary, but the board imposed a 15 per cent cut to short-term bonuses as punishment for the hack which duped a call centre employee in late June. The cyber criminals, who are still unidentified, stole the personal details of 5.7 million customers after accessing a database used by Qantas’ Manila hub.
The bonus cut equated to a $250,000 haircut for Ms Hudson who cut short a family holiday in Greece to manage the fallout, and $550,000 was held back in total from her fellow executives.
“This adjustment reflects their shared accountability and our commitment to a culture of responsibility and transparency while also acknowledging the work that has been done since the incident,” the report stated.
“While we recognise that investigations into this incident may not be finalised for some time and there may be other outworkings (such as a class action), we believe it is important for both our executives and shareholders that the remuneration consequences of this incident be dealt with this year.”
Qantas Group chairman John Mullen said overall, the company had enjoyed an “outstanding year, delivering not just on financial metrics but delivering for customers and our people”.
Last month, Qantas reported an underlying annual profit of $2.39bn, the second highest result on record.
In addition, employee engagement improved by 7 percentage points and the Qantas and Jetstar net promoter scores increased by 10 and 6 points respectively.
On-time performance also lifted to its highest level since the pandemic, making Qantas the most punctual carrier for the financial year ahead of rival Virgin.
“Vanessa and her leadership team have done a fantastic job,” Mr Mullen said.
“We saw strong improvements in customer satisfaction, on-time performance and reputation for both Qantas and Jetstar. We expect to build on these improvements in coming years.”
Although the airline was recently fined $90m for unlawfully outsourcing its ground handling workforce in 2020, cuts to bonuses made last year were considered punishment enough for executives in charge at the time.
After Ms Hudson, Jetstar CEO Steph Tully was the second most highly paid executive earning $3.08m for the 2025 financial year after her base pay was lifted almost 14 per cent — from $851,000 to $970,000.
The report noted that Ms Tully’s base pay was originally set at a level below her predecessor Gareth Evans, and below market median for comparable roles but did not explain why.
“Following more than two years of strong performance in her role Ms Tully’s base pay was realigned,” said the report.
Jetstar was the standout performer of the group in the year to June 30, increasing earnings by 54 per cent and achieving a higher operating margin in its domestic business than that of premium partner Qantas.
Chief financial officer Rob Marcolina also pocketed over $3m for the year, while Qantas Domestic CEO Markus Svensson made $2.4m.
The heads of Qantas Loyalty and International Andrew Glance and Cameron Wallace banked a more modest $2m each.
The report noted that Ms Hudson currently held more than a million shares in Qantas, worth close to $12m, despite selling 125,000 shares to meet an income tax liability.
“The sale was discussed with the Qantas board, and prior approval sought and obtained from the board chair and audit committee chair,” said a notice to the ASX.
“Post the sale, Ms Hudson continues to hold in excess of the minimum shareholding guidelines.”
Changes to the share sale approval process were introduced by Qantas, after Mr Joyce offloaded almost $17m worth of shares in June 2023.
At the time the sale was explained as helping to fund a property acquisition. Months later it emerged Qantas was being investigated by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for the sale of tickets on already cancelled flights.
The company ultimately paid a $120m penalty for misleading and deceptive conduct.
On Friday, Qantas shares closed at $11.85, up 0.5 per cent.
Originally published as Qantas execs ‘punished’ with cut to bonuses for cyber attack as Joyce pockets another $3.8m
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