Qantas boss Alan Joyce has wings clipped in pay reset

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce has had to make do with a significantly lower salary in the 2018 financial year.

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce has had to make do with a significantly lower salary in the 2018 ­financial year, due to changes to executive incentives and performance bonuses.

The airline’s annual report showed Mr Joyce earned $10.87 million, down from $24.58m the previous year.

Although his base pay remained the same at $2.1m and a “cash bonus” of $1.99m was up 12 per cent on last year, changes to the share-based short-term and long-term incentive plans saw Mr Joyce pocket 56 per cent less than in the 2017 financial year.

Qantas chairman Leigh Clifford said the strong performance of the group, which last week posted a $980m net profit, meant executive bonuses were paid.

“The board looks at several factors when determining executive bonuses, including safety, customer satisfaction, ­financial metrics and long-term share price performance,” Mr Clifford said. “The executive team, led by Alan, did an outstanding job on achieving the group’s key objectives.”

Total executive pay was down 36 per cent in the year to June 30.

Jetstar CEO Gareth Evans saw his total pay plunge from $8.1m to $3.9m and Qantas Loyalty CEO Lesley Grant’s pay fell from $5m to $3.2m.

The total sum of executive salaries was $29m, down from $45.3m in 2017.

“But the pay figures we’re announcing today still reflect a record result,” Mr Clifford said.

“In addition to a record profit, we took delivery of new Dreamliners, opened up new routes like Perth to London and kept delivering some of the lowest fares in the market with Jetstar.”

Mr Joyce will get a 2 per cent increase in his base pay this ­financial year, to $2.17m.

It will be the first increase since 2011 for the Qantas CEO who has overseen the airline’s worst annual result, a loss of $2.8 billion in 2014, and the best, a $1.6bn profit in 2018. In the past five years, Mr Joyce has earned $52m and the share price has risen from $1.12 to $6.43.