Air Canada CEO's compensation cut by over half - to $5.8 million - due to pandemic

MONTREAL -- Air Canada CEO Calin Rovinescu was on track to receive around $12.9 million in total compensation last year, but the value fell by more than half as the airline's shares stalled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of May 4, when the company's share price closed at $17.63 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, the total compensation of its president and chief executive officer was estimated at $5.8 million. Air Canada's shares closed at $16.76 on Monday.

Remuneration of top executives and board members were included in a proxy circular sent to Air Canada shareholders prior to its virtual meeting scheduled for June 25.

Rovinescu, 64, was entitled last year to a base salary of $1.4 million. The value of his share-based awards fell to $1.89 million from $3.55 million, and $3.5 million in options were worthless due to a big drop in the share price. His bonus was also cut by more than half, to $1.6 million from $3.5 million while his pension value was $875,000.

The CEO gave up his base salary until June 30. His total compensation was $11.6 million 2018.

In 2019, Air Canada earned $1.4 billion in profits on $19.1 billion in revenues. COVID-19 turned everything upside down with the airline losing $1.05 billion in the first quarter ended March 31, in addition to forecasts that it would take more than three years to recover from the current crisis.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on May 25, 2020.