October 12, 2011 - Executive greed needs to be brought under control at Qantas so that the company can better focus and deliver on delivering a quality to airline to Australia and the world, the Australian and International Pilots Association. 

New revelations published about the astronomic salaries paid to Qantas executives, including CEO Alan Joyce, have fuelled further anger from the public today, who are sick of seeing one of the last true iconic Australian companies mismanaged. 

Qantas Airways Limited is the flag carrier of Australia. The name was originally "QANTAS", an acronym for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". Nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo", the airline is based in Sydney, with its main hub at Sydney Airport.

It is Australia's largest airline, the oldest continuously operated airline in the world and the second oldest in the world overall. Qantas headquarters are located in the Qantas Centre in the Mascot suburb of the City of Botany Bay, Sydney, New South Wales. 

In August 2011 the company announced that due to financial losses and a decline in market share, major structural changes would be made. Up to 1,000 jobs will be lost in Australia and a new Asia-based premium airline will be set up operating under a different name. It will also launch a budget airline, called Jetstar Japan, in partnership with Japan Airlines and Mitsubishi Corporation. Included in the changes are the cessation of services to London via Hong Kong and Bangkok, for which Qantas is no longer taking reservations. 

"The pay packets of the Qantas executives and board members are climbing faster than any 747 they are also rising at a time when the share price is falling. The only job security they seem to care about is their own." TWU national secretary Tony Sheldon said.  

Eight most senior executives getting a pay rise of 62 per cent from $8.9 million last year to $14.4 million this year. Qantas?s annual report released on Monday shows Qantas CEO Alan Joyce salary went from $2.9 million to $5 million at a time the company plans to layoff over 1,000 employees. AIPA Vice President Richard Woodward, a Qantas captain, said the huge salaries and bonuses being lavished on executives and the board were completely out of step with the airline?s performance. 

?We currently have a management team whose plan to strip Qantas back and shift resources to Southeast Asia has seen share prices plummet to an all time low,? he said. As a result they have angered the Australian public and loyal Qantas workers. Yet as a reward for this ineptitude they have been busy paying themselves some $5 million in package increases in just the last year alone. 

?CEO Alan Joyce, despite barely making a correct call since he took the reins, has decided he?s worth $5 million a year. I?m not quite sure how Mr Joyce and his management team are managing to pay themselves these huge amounts when they claim Qantas international is losing money. These sort of salaries are completely out of step with other airlines in Australia and indeed they are completely out of step with airlines around the world. 

?The CEO of Cathay Pacific takes home a small fraction of what Alan Joyce makes, despite his airline?s performance. Contrary to Qantas management spin, the same cannot be said in a comparison between Cathay pilots and Qantas pilots.