The 50-year-old, who only took the helm last year, volunteered to take a 50% pay cut, reducing his salary to $250,000. According to an SEC filing, the pay cut is only from July to December, but a salary reduction at the top sends a message that every penny counts for JetBlue.
If the pain continues as expected in the airline industry, may other CEOs follow Barger's lead? Midwest Air Group already cut the pay of its CEO in early July. Here's a closer look of the total annual compensation of some of the CEOs of JetBlue's publicly traded peers, according to Reuters:
- Republic Airways Holdings Inc. CEO Bedford Bryan - $1,010,304
- AirTran Holdings Inc. CEO Robert Fornaro - $976,385
- Southwest Airlines Co. CEO Gary C. Kelly - $886,065
- Northwest Airlines Corp. CEO Douglas Steenland - $531,919
- Continental Airlines Inc. CEO Lawrence Kellner - $712,500
- U.S. Airways Group Inc. CEO Parker W. Douglas - $550,000
- Delta Air Lines Inc. CEO Richard H. Anderson - $200,000
- Gerald Magpily
See Dealscape: Airline analysts: 'There will be blood'
See Business Journal of Milwaukee
JetBlue Airways Corp. has to tighten its belt even more in the wake of the airline's announcement last week it lost nearly $7 million last quarter. One solution the discount airline's CEO David Barger has come up with is pay cuts including his own.
