HIGH-FLYING CAROLYN IS THE FIRST LADY OF BRITAIN’S BLUE-CHIP INDEX

EASYJET chief executive Carolyn McCall, who took home £7.7m last year, is the highest paid female chief executive currently serving in the FTSE 100.

Her rewards were previously outstripped by former Burberry boss Angela Ahrendts, who was paid just under £8m before she left in July last year.

McCall, picturedleft, has been in the pilot’s seat at the low-cost airline since 2010 and has been the driving force behind a take-off in its fortunes. The 53-year-old mother of three has pushed to improve customer service and to target more business passengers.

Before joining the FTSE 100 airline she was chief executive of the Guard- ian Media Group and was Veuve Clicquot businesswoman of the year in 2008.

McCall was last year paid more than double her nearest female rival, Alison Cooper at Imperial Tobacco, a 49-year-old mother of two who took home £2.7m.

The other woman leader in the FTSE 100 over the period was Moya Greene, the Royal Mail chief executive who was paid a relatively modest £1.35m.

Canadian Greene has kept a low profile on pay following a row over £250,000 handed to her in 2012 towards buying a home in the UK.

This was only revealed in the annual report several months later and came as a shock to business secretary Vince Cable, who was in charge of signing off pay deals while the company was still in state hands.

Greene, who presided over the controversial float of Royal Mail in 2013, agreed to pay back the money.

Ahrendts, who left to join Apple, was replaced at Burberry by a male boss, Christopher Bailey, whose £20m pay package was voted down by investors last year.

Two other female bosses have since joined the blue chip index: Liv Garfield at Severn Trent and Veronique Laury at Kingfisher, but full pay details have not yet been disclosed.