Former Quantas Airways CEO Alan Joyce takes home close to €13 million

QUANTAS Airways said its former CEO Alan Joyce, received a pay increase of 872 per cent as he collected years’ worth of long-term incentives on the way out.

Mr Joyce, a Tallaght native and former Aer Lingus employee, retired early this month after a regulator lawsuit accused Australian airliner Qantas of selling tickets on thousands of already-cancelled flights.

Joyce took home close to €13m in the 2023 financial year, according to the company’s latest annual report.

Following Joyce’s departure, Qantas said that it was cutting and withholding hefty bonuses amid damaging lawsuits.

Most of the Joyce payout was share-based incentives that he was allowed to cash in after they vested, according to the report.

Joyce’s total pay for the previous year was €1.4m.

Qantas cut an additional short-term bonus for Joyce by one-fifth of the €1.6m available and withheld it pending the outcome of two lawsuits that may result in hefty fines and further reputational turbulence for the company, the report added.

“In recognition of the customer and brand impact of cumulative events, the Board has applied its discretion to reduce short-term incentives” for Joyce and other executives, Chairman Richard Goyder said in the report.

The company was able to recall over €5m of share-based bonuses Joyce collected in the year but is not yet allowed to sell, the report added.

It could also “claw back” unvested stock bonuses for Joyce, currently worth €3.6m, it said.

Joyce’s final pay packet encapsulates his decade-and-a-half of running the company, which dominates Australian air travel.

Qantas made a record annual profit for the year to June 2023, but it came amid public outrage over cancelled flights and employee disquiet over the sacking of 1,700 ground staff during Covid-related border closings.

The airline faces an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission lawsuit saying it broke consumer law by selling fares for 8,000 flights that were already cancelled in mid-2022, soon after the border reopened.

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