Southwest Airlines Awards Bonuses to Execs

[canyonblue]

[font=verdana, arial, helvetica]Tuesday January 4, 10:44 am ET
Southwest Airlines Awards Bonuses to Top Executives Ranging From $190,000 to $338,120


DALLAS (AP) -- Southwest Airlines Co., which has remained profitable during the three-year airline-industry slump, said Tuesday that chief executive Gary C. Kelly and four other top executives received cash bonuses ranging from $190,000 to $338,120.

The bonuses rewarded work during 2004 and were approved Dec. 28 by the compensation committee of Southwest's board of directors and payable on Monday, the Dallas-based carrier said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The biggest bonus went to president Colleen C. Barrett, followed by $275,000 for Kelly, who became CEO in July. Chairman Herbert D. Kelleher got $212,930, former CEO James F. Parker received $225,000, and Jim Wimberly, executive vice president of aircraft operations, got $190,000, according to the filing.

Parker's bonus was payable under a severance deal he reached with the airline in July.

In the first nine months of 2004, Southwest earned $258 million on revenue of $4.40 billion, an increase from a $233 million profit on revenue of $4.05 billion for the same months in 2003.

Shares of Southwest fell 12 cents to $15.95 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange. They rose less than 1 percent in 2004.
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[spanky2]

Leo, Fred, Michelle, Vicki, GG, and all of the other 50 VP's at Ft Widget are laughing and clinking their whiskey glasses cause they got bonuses in the 7 digit range.

 

[TriStar_drvr]

The biggest bonuses should have been paid to those responsible for the fuel hedge contracts, without which, SWA would have been just another money losing airline in 2004.

 

[SWA/FO]

yeah! Take that.

 

[canyonblue]

Leo, Fred, Michelle, Vicki, GG, and all of the other 50 VP's at Ft Widget are laughing and clinking their whiskey glasses cause they got bonuses in the 7 digit range.

I hope they don't think that Colleen, Gary, Jim P., Jim W. and Herb are "lowering the bar"

 

[SWA tech]

good for them they earned it. keep up the good work

 

[bafanguy]

good for them they earned it. keep up the good work

Exactly !! No one minds seeing the execs get bonuses when they EARN it. What goes down so hard with the worker bees ( and should with the BOD and stockholders ) is seeing the likes of Rockin' Ron, Leo, and their respective Bands of Merry Men get paid for screwing the works. This, however, will never change. Look back at airline history...WAY BACK. The jury is still out on GG and his band.

SWA has been the ultimate capitalist experiment from day one; good management leading motivated troops ( the result of good management ) through very difficult times, and those "times" existed from the very beginning.

SWA management and employees have earned everything they now have. My only hope is that they have the wisdom and determination to stay the course. The "little voice" that bothers me is what the EAL guys used to tell us at DL..."What goes around, comes around". I hope this doesn't apply to SWA.

 

[Rez O. Lewshun]

what my BAFAN counterpart said...