Alan Joyce is back on Qantas payroll but at much reduced level

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce is again receiving a pay packet after four months of no salary, but it’s not as much as it used to be.

After four months without any salary, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce is again collecting a pay cheque of 65 per cent of his $2.15m base wage. The reduced wage works out to be about $115,800 a month before tax and will continue at that level until at least November.

It follows the second worst result in Qantas’s 100-year history; a $2.7bn statutory loss, as a result of aircraft writedowns and redundancy payouts in the COVID crisis.

Mr Joyce’s earnings have been a source of national interest, following his record $23.8m pay packet in 2017 that made him Australia’s highest paid chief executive for the year.

The mega-wage was bolstered by payment of a long-term incentive bonus that reflected the increase in Qantas’s share price from $1.26 in 2014 to $5.66.

In 2018, his pay fell to $10.9m, and last year Mr Joyce took home $9.9m despite a rise in his base wage from $2.05m to $2.15m. His 2020 earnings will be included in the executive remuneration report due to be published later this month but the figure is expected to be 80 per cent lower than his 2019 salary – or around $2m.

Mr Joyce’s fellow executives and board members have shared the pain of salary cuts during the COVID crisis and annual bonuses were zeroed out in April, to slash the cost of remuneration.

Jetstar chief executive Gareth Evans, Qantas Loyalty chief Olivia Wirth, Qantas International boss Tino La Spina and Qantas Domestic chief executive Andrew David were among those who took no pay for the final quarter of the financial year. They can expect a total salary some 70 per cent lower than last year’s wages.

In addition, the executives will see their base pay cut by 15 per cent until November as Qantas continues to navigate what Mr Joyce has described as the worst trading conditions in the history of aviation.