DALLAS (AP) – Southwest Airlines CEO Robert Jordan’s compensation nearly doubled last year to USD5.3 million after being promoted to the top job during a year that ended with massive flight cancellations that will cost Southwest more than USD1 billion.
Southwest disclosed in a proxy filed on Thursday that the estimated value of Jordan’s compensation rose from USD3 million in 2021, when he was executive vice president.
In 2022, Jordan received stock awards valued at USD3.6 million, USD676,875 in salary, a USD195,720 cash bonus and USD782,880 in incentive compensation, plus retirement-plan benefits. The eventual value of the stock awards will depend on the company’s financial performance from 2022 through 2024.
A Southwest spokesman said Jordan’s cash bonus would have been larger without the December disruptions because of lower scores for financial performance and customer-satisfaction, but the cancellations did not affect his other compensation.
A winter storm just before Christmas caused chaos across the airline industry, but Southwest took longer to recover than any of its rivals. The airline wound up cancelling 16,700 flights in late December. The airline said the breakdown cost it about USD800 million in lost revenue in the fourth quarter and up to USD350 million more early this year.
Bonuses declined for three other executives listed in the proxy, but Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson got a larger bonus than in 2021.
