Qantas Airways revival makes CEO Asia Pacific’s best-paid airline chief

Bloomberg

Qantas Airways Ltd. Chief Executive
Officer Alan Joyce’s compensation
almost doubled in the latest financial year after he helped revive the faltering Australian carrier.
The total package for Asia Pacific’s best-paid airline executive surged to $19.7 million in the 12 months through June 30, from about A$13 million a year earlier, according to the company’s annual report released Friday.
His base pay remained unchanged at A$2.1 million.
Under Joyce, 51, the airline reported its second-highest annual profit on record in August and announced its fourth buyback of stock in two years, marking the successful completion of his three-year turnaround programme. The Irish-born son of a cleaner and cigarette factory worker has cut thousands of jobs, deferred aircraft, retired older planes and dropped unprofitable routes to reverse losses.
Named CEO in November 2008, Joyce struggled with surging crude oil prices and a capacity rivalry with Virgin
Australia Holdings Ltd. amid calls for his firing. Since he unveiled the revival plan in February 2014 to freeze wages and deliver about A$2 billion in savings in three years, shares of the carrier
have quadrupled.
The stock, which fell below A$1 in June 2012, has rallied 75 percent this year and reached a record on August 25. It traded at A$5.83 in Sydney.