Big losses mean Cathay Pacific top brass miss out on bonuses for first time since 2009
CEO Rupert Hogg among lowest-paid airline chiefs, pocketing HK$9.1 million for 2017
Cathay Pacific Airways’ top managers did not get bonuses for last year in the wake of big losses, the first time the payouts were withheld since 2009, according to an annual report released on Tuesday.
Chairman John Slosar, CEO Rupert Hogg, Hogg’s predecessor Ivan Chu Kwok-leung, and finance chief Martin Murray were among the executives to miss out on bonuses, paid in line with the carrier’s performance during the previous year.
In 2016, Hong Kong’s flagship carrier lost HK$575 million (US$73.3 million), prompting it to embark on a three-year restructuring of the business and lay off 600 staff along with other cost-cutting measures.
Cathay has suffered from mainland Chinese and Middle Eastern airlines as well as budget carriers poaching passengers with cheaper air tickets.
Algernon Yau Ying-wah, chief executive of sister airline Cathay Dragon, who was a Cathay Pacific executive director until May 2017, did get a bonus of HK$996,000. The payout was related to his work with the smaller carrier.
The last time Cathay Pacific bosses did not get bonuses was in 2009, after losses in 2008 totalling HK$8.5 billion.
According to a Post analysis, the 56-year-old former chief operating officer is one of the lowest-paid chief executives among 25 publicly traded airlines in Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America which publish pay data.
On that list, Hogg’s pay – which included an allowance and pension contributions – was only higher than that of the chief executive and founder of Norwegian Air Shuttle, Bjorn Kjos, who took home US$275,000, according to the most recent data from 2016, and Aditya Ghosh of Indian budget airline Indigo, who earned US$1 million in the 2016-17 financial year.
Singapore Airlines’ Goh Choon Phong, whose carrier is closer to Hong Kong’s biggest airline in size, netted US$3.8 million last year. Qantas boss Alan Joyce was best paid among bosses of Asia-Pacific carriers, pocketing US$7.7 million.
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And Hogg’s pay appears modest among Hong Kong’s top listed companies.
In 2017, HSBC Holdings’ then chief executive Stuart Gulliver took home US$8.5 million, the most among Hang Seng Index companies.