BA chief’s sky-high pay hits turbulence

AROW over the pay of British airways boss Willie Walsh and a plan to give free flights to former board members has blown up after it was revealed the Irishman gets paid 147 times the average employee at the airline group.

Willie Walsh is in line to receive £6.4m in pay and perks which is 623pc of his base salary for his work last year at International Consolidated airlines Group, the owner of Ba and Spanish airline Iberia.

Shareholder adviser Pirc labelled Walsh’s pay ‘excessive’ and called on shareholders to vote against the rewards at the annual general meeting today in Madrid.

Pirc criticised IAG’s policy on future payouts because the total potential jackpots are 500pc of salary.

It said a three-year period to measure Walsh’s performance to qualify for the ‘long-term incentive plan’ – where he receives shares in the company – was not long-term enough. Walsh’s share award will net him £3.64m which is based on a period since 2012.

a proposal to give former non-executive directors the right to fly for nothing was also met with disapproval.

Deborah Hargreaves, boss of the independent think-tank the High Pay Cen- tre, said: ‘We think [long term incentive plans] should be phased out. Bonuses should be paid in cash only. awards based on share price do not always reflect the work of the chief executive. For example, quantitative easing [the Bank of england’s money-printing programme] has lifted share prices.’

IAG spokeswoman laura Goodes said Walsh’s bonus is based on the strong performance of the group in 2014 when he returned Spanish airline Iberia to profit after six years of losses. The share award covers a period where IAG’s shares have risen more than 220pc.

a resolution to introduce free flights for non-executive directors has been brought in to align former Ba nonexecutives with others on the board. IAG shares fell 8.5p to 493.5p.

EUROPE’S five largest airlines are forming a trade body to lobby for change in european regulation.

The bosses of easyJet, IAG, air France-KLM, lufthansa and ryanair have set aside rivalries to team up to call for reduced taxes and limits on strikes to boost competition and reduce prices for travellers.