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 2024.
In this post:
Comparing pay among US airline CEOs
I think it’s interesting to take a look at how US airline CEOs were paid in 2024, and to compare it to pay in previous years (separately, I’ve covered hotel group CEO pay).
There’s an interesting quirk, because 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 2024? Here’s a high level rundown, and I’ll also include 2023 and 2022 pay. Here are the total compensation amounts:
- United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby earned $33.9 million in 2024, compared to $18.6 million in 2023, and $9.8 million in 2022
- Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian earned $27.1 million in 2024, compared to $34.2 million in 2023, and $9.6 million in 2022
- American Airlines CEO Robert Isom earned $15.6 million in 2024, compared to $31.4 million in 2023, and $4.9 million in 2022
- Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan earned $10.6 million in 2024, compared to $9.3 million in 2023, and $5.3 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 $33.9 million in compensation included a $1.2 million base salary, a $3 million bonus, $5.1 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation, and $24.4 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, compared to last year. If you ask me, the 2024 compensation numbers are a lot more reflective of performance than in 2023:
- 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)
- Ed Bastian’s pay has been relatively consistent, which makes sense, since the carrier’s performance has also been pretty consistent
- It’s interesting to see Robert Isom make less than half of what he made last year; based on American’s performance, it makes sense that he’s being compensated a lot less than his counterparts at Delta and United
- Regarding Bob Jordan, ummm, I’m not sure why he has a job, and I’d say his pay is around $10.5 million too high, for simply “yes, siring” literally anything and everything that the activist investors want
Bottom line
While airlines aren’t exactly the highest margin businesses, airline CEOs are compensated as if they are. 2024 was only the second year since the start of the pandemic where airline CEO compensation was uncapped. Pay at the “big four” airlines ranged from $10.6 million to $33.9 million.
Comparing 2024 to 2023, compensation remained relatively steady for the CEOs of Delta and Southwest. Meanwhile there was a bit of a reversal with the American and United CEOs, as American’s CEO got his compensation cut in half, while United’s CEO had his compensation doubled (give or take).
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?
All you idiots blame the CEO for making so much money, but I don't see any of you boycotting the airline and NOT flying...
"Regarding Bob Jordan, ummm, I’m not sure why he has a job, and I’d say his pay is around $10.5 million too high, for simply “yes, siring” literally anything and everything that the activist investors want"
Kind of like activist judges and the misinformed and misopinionated public right?
And then these CEOs and their sycophants squeeze the average worker telling them they are not worth even a cost of living increase. And then there are sycophants here, there, and everywhere who would argue that an union employee should never negotiate for higher pay, while these people are continuing to fail upwards. OY!
Salaries such as this is what is wrong with Americastan. Whilst most of the country are obese and living on food stamps
Americastan? These salaries were paid under the BIDEN/HARRIS administration...
The commissioner of the PGA makes 20 million a year. The commissioner of the NFL makes more than 60 million per year. There are 50 players in the NBA that make more than 30 million per year, some of whom played in less than 20 games this year. Maybe airline CEOs are actually underpaid.
FlyerDon, the world knows that the world pays for overpaid American business actors. However, simply because the CEO’s of one sector are overpaid, that is no excuse for others to jump upon the obscene gravy train.
It is the American business model that those at the bottom will be squeezed hardest to accommodate the failures of the senior management, etc. That is not justifiable, except in the eyes of those who benefit the most …. CEO’s and shareholders, etc.
These airline CEO salaries will double within the next 3 years with President Trump leading the world into a period of peace and economic prosperity. Don’t forget some airline employees will still need to be laid off on the way to profitability. Airline CEOs don’t care if someone dies. Just the bottom line is all that matters.
I'm not sure why people are surprised to see Robert Isom taking a "pay cut". Those who actually read into why he made $31.4M would know it was because it included back pay since he could not get a pay raise with his promotion due to CARES Act restrictions. He was still getting paid his previous position pay up to 2023. People including this blog need to get off the "Robert doesn't deserve $31.4M because...
I'm not sure why people are surprised to see Robert Isom taking a "pay cut". Those who actually read into why he made $31.4M would know it was because it included back pay since he could not get a pay raise with his promotion due to CARES Act restrictions. He was still getting paid his previous position pay up to 2023. People including this blog need to get off the "Robert doesn't deserve $31.4M because AA lags UA/DL". He deserves to be compensated for his promotion, whether or not you agree with CEO pay in general, and his 2024 pay shows the board recognizes he is not performing up to his peers.
@ Mitch Baird -- Sure, but then why was Scott Kirby paid so much less last year?
Obscene amounts of money to run Airlines that are 2nd Rate Globally!
The rich get richer, the working poor get the picture!
I feel its equally important to also find what the lowest paid employee gets.
A very interesting article Ben, thank you.
What the salary figures clearly demonstrate is that the subject CEO’s are being tremendously overpaid, overpaid for their failure to elevate the U.S. commercial aviation sector above the mediocre standard of worldwide aviation.
They are filling their own bank accounts while failing to MAGA.
"While airlines aren’t exactly the highest margin businesses, airline CEOs are compensated as if they are." But, that's not the determinate. I'm not saying these comps are "right." You might need to pay, say, $30 million to get a person that makes you $60 million better in one industry. In another, you'd expect a $30 million executive to make a billion dollar difference.
@ Dave W. -- True, of course. Bigger picture, what I was trying to get it is that the airline business is really tough, and you still have CEOs who don't actually perform well (even within those difficult parameters) making a lot of money.
Sure would be nice to get a bonus 3x the amount of my base salary. Maybe then I'd have enough extra disposable income for tax-loss harvesting to be worth it.
The capacity to worship at the cult of the CEO is mystifying to me. None of these men are visionaries or founders. Their jobs are essentially to take a massive machine that's running ok and not tank it. You don't need a Wharton MBA to do that.
For most Americans, it seems that just not tanking it would be an achievement already, just look at the person running the country.
And, other than the stock they're given for working there, they obviously don't have any skin in the game in terms of invested capital.
It really makes no sense when you look at the global scale - Ben Smith earns less than €5m for running a group whose revenue is around double that of UA, and I don't think anyone would say he's underpaid (Captain Carsten is on a bit more, although he'd probably be overpaid even if he worked for free).