Former Qantas boss Alan Joyce pocketed $3.4 million for his last two months in the role before he left the company amid a string of scandals and a damning governance review, which found the business had a top-down culture with “too much deference to a long-tenured CEO”.
Qantas’ 2024 financial year remuneration report, published on the ASX on Thursday morning, reveals that Joyce departed the airline in early September last year with more than $18 million in base pay and bonuses, despite having approximately $9 million stripped from his 2023 entitlements.
Qantas chief Vanessa Hudson and her predecessor Alan Joyce.Credit: Sydney Morning Herald
The airline’s new chief executive, Vanessa Hudson, took a $1.5 million pay cut, receiving $4.3 million for the year to June 30, down from $6 million the year prior when she was finance chief, after the board docked executive bonuses by 30 per cent following Qantas’ dismal brand performance. Qantas lowered its chief executive pay by 26 per cent when Hudson took over from Joyce, following a shareholder vote against the group’s remuneration at its annual general meeting in 2023.
Jetstar boss Stephanie Tully was the next-highest-paid Qantas executive for the year, taking home $2.1 million, followed closely by Qantas chief financial officer Rob Marcolina, who made $13,000 less. Markus Svensson, the head of Qantas’ domestic arm, was paid $2 million, and head of Qantas International Cameron Wallace received $1.6 million. New loyalty boss Andrew Glance was paid $1.1 million.
All up, the business forked out $21 million in executive pay, down from $35.5 million the year prior following changes to the remuneration scheme.
Qantas was under pressure from politicians, investors, employees and customers to claw back Joyce’s long and short-term bonuses, by about $11 million, after it was forced to settle a court case with the ACCC, rectify low consumer satisfaction, and deal with a recent High Court verdict which found the group illegally sacked 1700 ground handlers. It cut Joyce’s short-term bonuses by 30 per cent, in line with the other executives, and axed his long-term bonus entirely.
Chair Richard Goyder – who was paid $709,000 in 2024 – said the company had made progress since last year, but acknowledged there was more work to do to restore customer trust.
“The board has listened to feedback on the pay structure for our executives and have made a series of changes which we are confident will encourage better outcomes for our stakeholders,” Goyder said.
Goyder will leave the business next week and will be replaced by former Telstra chair John Mullen. The departing chairman received $34,000 in post-employment travel benefits, including fringe benefits tax, ticket taxes and other incremental costs.
Qantas increased the weighting on customer outcomes from 20 to 30 per cent for annual bonuses and will now consider brand reputation as a performance measure for long-term incentives.
It reported a $1.25 billion statutory profit over the year, down from its record $1.74 billion profit unveiled by Joyce last year in the days before he was forced to step down.
Joyce’s total pay for his final year in the job could have been up to $23.6 million when accounting for his $2.2 million base salary and the total sum of short- and long-term incentive entitlements. He will retain pro rata entitlements for future long-term bonuses, which will convert to 353,956 shares if the company meets its performance goals.
Qantas recently received a damning governance review, which found it had a top-down culture causing “considerable harm to its relationships with customers, employees and other stakeholders”.
The review was conducted by ex-McKinsey partner Tom Saar. It found Joyce’s 15-year tenure as chief executive directly contributed to the erosion of the airline’s relationship with its regulators and customers. It also found the board did not adequately challenge its executives and failed to acknowledge non-financial risks.
Saar made 23 recommendations to address the company’s issues, which the Qantas board has committed to implementing. These include making staff “a bigger priority” and “invest[ing] more time to understand customers and recover lost trust”.
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