Qantas paid Alan Joyce more than $21 million in last financial year

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Qantas paid former CEO Alan Joyce $21.4 million in the 2023 financial year, the airline's annual report has revealed.

However, on the back of the airline's plummetting reputation, $2.2 million in bonuses was withheld from Joyce, and the national carrier says another $14.4 million is subject to clawback and financial penalty provisions.

"While customer satisfaction levels improved during the year, they are well below where they should be," chairman Richard Goyder said.

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Alan Joyce has retired as Qantas chief executive after 15 years in charge of the national carrier.

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"As a result, this part of the scorecard was judged at zero out of a possible 20 per cent and this had a corresponding impact on senior executive pay.

"In addition, the board has applied its discretion to reduce short-term incentives for senior executives for FY23 by 20 per cent in recognition of the customer and brand impact of cumulative events."

Goyder laid the blame for the carrier's poor reputation at the ACCC's High Court action, which alleges Qantas continued to sell tickets for already-cancelled flights.

But he made little mention of travellers' frustration at customer service, high prices, and flight cancellations and delays.

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"(The report) comes at a time when the company is experiencing an acute loss of trust from the community, and accumulated disappointment from customers, which the board and management are determined to fix," Goyder said.

"Much of the loss of trust stems from allegations by the ACCC. We recognise the important role of the ACCC and the company has cooperated fully with its investigations, which only crystallised into material allegations when legal action was announced on 31 August this year.

"These allegations are concerning and have the Board's full attention.

"The legal process now underway limits what we can say for the time being and we look forward to the opportunity to respond properly on the detail of the allegations.

"What we can say is that Qantas' longstanding practice is that when a flight is cancelled, customers are offered an alternative flight or a refund."

Qantas shares dropped more than 2 per cent to $5.33 on Wednesday, the latest slide in a rough month that has seen its share price fall more than 13 per cent.

The annual report was released on the same day the High Court ordered new CEO Vanessa Hudson to attend mediation with the Transport Workers Union to discuss compensation for the almost 1700 workers the airline illegally sacked in 2020.