Qantas will soon pay $1.6 million in base salary to Vanessa Hudson, who starts as chief executive in November, but she could receive millions more if the airline hits its short- and long-term bonus targets.
Hudson’s take-home pay could be as much as – or more than – $5.8 million, depending on whether the group hits operating and share price targets. She will also be entitled to four long-distance trips and 12 short-distance trips per calendar year.
Vanessa Hudson’s starting salary as Qantas chief executive will start at $1.6 million, a 50 per cent increase on her current base salary as chief financial officer. Credit: Rhett Wyman
Shareholders of the company, which vote on the chief executive’s pay at the annual general meeting in November, have voted in favor of current CEO Alan Joyce’s pay since taking over the airline in 2008.
Hudson’s base salary will be 25% lower than outgoing CEO Joyce, who was paid $2.2 million, while her target total compensation figure is about 30% lower than his $8.4 million.
Joyce began his 15-year tenure with 24 percent less than his predecessor, Geoff Dixon.
Richard Gold Announcement of Hudson’s promotion to Chief Financial Officer This week, months of speculation over the airline’s succession plans ended after a late-night Qantas board meeting on Tuesday.
Joyce was heavily criticized by disgruntled passengers and some staff Last year’s multi-million dollar salary packageeven though the airline’s shareholders voted in favor of his pay.
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His base salary this year is $2.2 million, and he will receive short-term bonuses of $2.2 million to $4.3 million. He will also receive 698,000 Qantas shares, worth more than $4 million, which will vest on June 30 under the airline’s 2022-23 recovery retention plan. Joyce appears poised to cash in an additional 1,349,000 shares under the airline’s long-term incentive plan for 2021-23.
Joyce was paid $5.5 million in 2021, consisting of $2.2 million in cash and $3.3 million in future vesting bonus stock. On a “real” basis, Joyce earned $2.17 million, up 15 percent from the previous year.
Qantas said it restored Joyce’s base salary to 2019 levels last year after he took three months of zero pay in 2020 and one month in 2021, in addition to taking a pay cut for three months in 2021.
