In recent weeks, we’ve seen major US airlines release their proxy statements, which contain all kinds of interesting information. Among those is the executive compensation that these airlines paid in 2025.
In this post:
Comparing pay among CEOs at major US airlines
I think it’s interesting to take a look at how US airline CEOs were paid in 2025, and to compare it to pay in previous years (separately, I’ve written about which hotel group CEOs are highest paid).
While this now goes back a few years, I think there’s a quirk worth mentioning, as airline CEO compensation was capped from 2020 to 2022. That’s because the CARES Act provided government aid to all US airlines, though it came with some stipulations, which applied through April 1, 2023. With the CARES Act, CEOs at US airlines had their pay capped. They could earn at most $3 million, plus 50% of their total compensation that exceeded $3 million in 2019.
With that in mind, what did airline CEO pay look like in 2025? Here’s a high level rundown, and I’ll also include pay from the three previous years. Here are the total compensation amounts:
- United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby earned $32.3 million in 2025, compared to $33.9 million in 2024, $18.6 million in 2023, and $9.8 million in 2022
- Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian earned $19.2 million in 2025, compared to $27.1 million in 2024, $34.2 million in 2023, and $9.6 million in 2022
- Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan earned $16.6 million in 2025, compared to $10.6 million in 2024, $9.3 million in 2023, and $5.3 million in 2022
- American Airlines CEO Robert Isom earned $13.9 million in 2025, compared to $15.6 million in 2024, $31.4 million in 2023, and $4.9 million in 2022
It’s important to emphasize that while the above are the amounts of the total compensation, the structure of this varied by airline, so we’re not talking about all cash compensation here.
As you can tell, United’s Scott Kirby was the highest paid CEO. His $32.3 million in compensation included a $1.2 million base salary, $8 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation, and $22.6 million in stock awards.
What can we really make of these numbers?
There’s no denying that at publicly traded companies in the United States, we have some of the highest executive compensation in the world. CEOs at US airlines make multiples of what CEOs at most foreign airlines make, and that’s just a commonly accepted practice.
I do think it’s interesting to look at the relative pay situation here, and how those numbers have changed over the years. There’s actually minimal change between 2025 and 2024, though some things stand out:
- It makes sense that Scott Kirby is the highest paid industry CEO, since the airline has been improving its financial performance, and the company’s stock has been on fire (which is ultimately what the board cares about)
- Poor Ed Bastian, his compensation sure has been trending downwards in the past few years 😉
- Bob Jordan sure got a nice raise, as Southwest’s stock has improved; but goodness, I’d say he only deserves his pay slightly more than Robert Isom
- Robert Isom’s pay has been pretty consistent for the past couple of years, and the $13.9 million is equal to around 13% of American’s net profit; obviously that’s not actually how we measure things, but still, that whole situation is rough, and I don’t know how the guy has a job
Bottom line
While airlines aren’t exactly the highest margin businesses, airline CEOs are compensated as if they are. 2025 was only the third year since the start of the pandemic where airline CEO compensation was uncapped. Pay at the “big four” airlines ranged from $13.9 million to $32.3 million.
Comparing 2025 to 2025, compensation remained relatively steady for the CEOs of United and American. Meanwhile there was a bit of a reversal with the Delta and Southwest CEOs, as Delta’s CEO got his compensation reduced, while Southwest’s CEO had his compensation increased significantly.
Anyway, when the poor guy in the bunch is still making eight figures, it’s hard to feel bad for anyone, right? 😉
What do you make of these compensation numbers?
What do we think? Kinda clickbaity. It's pure madness. Insanity. Beyond ludicrous. Sure, CEO's should make 10x what their median employee makes. Maybe even 20x if it's a huge company. Maybe you're trying to do a passive-aggressive condemnation of ridiculous executive pay but if so just do so rather than this milquetoast approach.
Bingo!!
I'm glad somebody else says it, because I get tired of (seemingly) being the only one to push back on clickbait and politics here.
I'll copy and paste others' strategies for way less money.
And yet they, and some people on this site begrudge lower level staff from earning a living wage. OY
@just_a_deviant
You have no moral superiority. None. But you do have performative skills.
“Poor Ed Bastian, his compensation sure has been trending downwards in the past few years”
Like throwing red meat in front of a starving dog…
How did your overlord get paid less, Tim Dunn.
Bad performance?
lol
Does 30 million get you a better CEO than 10 million does? If it doesn’t I don’t see the point.
lol
'got paid' != 'earned'
IRL, this probably speaks to their relationship to their boards and contracts they negotiated. Usually most of the earnings are supposed to be related to financial performance, but if that were truly the case, AA's CEO would have earned a goose egg for the past several years.
Man those portraits just scream punch me
What is this weirdly selective commentary. Not only has Isom's salary decreased more than Bastian's, you call Isom's salary "consistent", but point out Bastian's decreasing salary.
Yeah, yeah... Coke vs. Pepsi... but, it's all carcinogenic sugar water, gurl.
This is the reason for the higher fares , high fees , and assorted rip-offs .
Stop gaslighting.
UA flew approximately 182 million passengers in 2025. That means Kirby's salary represented $0.18 per ticket. Not enough to support your theory.
None of them are worth the money.
Remember an era when leaders of companies got paid maybe 20x the average worker? Yeah, now 200x or 2000x is the norm. That’s pretty messed up. Oh, and most CEOs aren’t even in the capital class (they’re just mere mercenaries for the billionaires, who pay next to nothing in taxes thanks to loopholes.) Meanwhile, we can’t pay workers enough to live where they work, or afford healthcare, plan for retirement; and consumers are unprotected when...
Remember an era when leaders of companies got paid maybe 20x the average worker? Yeah, now 200x or 2000x is the norm. That’s pretty messed up. Oh, and most CEOs aren’t even in the capital class (they’re just mere mercenaries for the billionaires, who pay next to nothing in taxes thanks to loopholes.) Meanwhile, we can’t pay workers enough to live where they work, or afford healthcare, plan for retirement; and consumers are unprotected when airlines fail to operate (we need EU261 equivalent in the US). 191 days until midterms.
Let them eat Biscoff.
Yes, Gene!! Though, for Scott, it'd probably be 'stroopwaffle.' For Ed, sure, get Biscoff'd.
You can’t call something a loophole when its a part of the tax code as it was intended.
Airlines have some of the smallest gaps in pay due to how radically overpaid pilots are (particularly when benefits are included).
Everything else you highlight is tied to housing costs - and that you can blame your NIMBY neighbors for. Its not billionaires - its people in your community unless you live in Houston
Goheelz, so, you ready for tax reform, or just wanna accept what is a broken system?
A lot of union leader also get paid 500k+.
Reminds me of the Godfather movie where you pay for "protection fees".
yeah; I think it was during the anti-union Boeing CHS drive when Boeing put out a diagram of all the nepotism and crazy salaries in the IAM.
But... no doubt there are plenty of equally qualified CEOs that could and would do the job for far less and likely better. Better than Bastian and Isom, certainly.
it's a pretty sweet gig when you get to that level and your performance doesn't seem to matter
Eskimo… $500,000 verses $30,000,000… so, 60x difference. Yeah, maybe CEOs should only get $500K. Great idea! Bah!
As soon as we get home from Buenos Aires( can't fill out EU 261 with malbec in my veins), I'll fill out the forms for the delay($600 for each of us), hotel and dinner charges since The Spoor didn't issue us vouchers. It would nice if U. S. Had the same concern for its citizens.
Alan Z, glad you enjoyed Argentina! And even better than you have an easy EU261 claim ahead of you! Yes, someday, we’ll learn to actually take better care here…