British Airways CEO Salary and Compensation

British Airways (BA) is one of the world’s most popular airlines and the flag carrier of Great Britain, based in the country’s capital London, and operates out of its two primary hubs, Heathrow and Gatwick airports. The carrier operates a fleet of close to 250 aircraft and flies to over 200 domestic and international destinations around the world.

Since 2011, British Airways has been a part of the International Airlines Group, the third largest airline group in the world, which also majorly owns Aer Lingus, Iberia, Level and Vueling. Under the BA arm, there are also two regional subsidiaries, BA CityFlyer and BA EuroFlyer, that provide seamless connectivity to and from mainland Europe and United Kingdom.

At the heart of the airline’s complex operations, which have seen them employ close to 35,000 people around the globe, is Sean Doyle, the chairman and chief executive officer of the Brit national carrier. Here is a comprehensive look into who the individual is, his professional background and an insight into the work he has done with British Airways.

Photo: Sean Doyle, Chairman and CEO, British Airways

Sean Doyle: Background

Sean Doyle is an Irish business executive, who was born in the seaside town of Youghal. He is a graduate from the University College Cork and also a licensed chartered accountant, following which he took up management roles in several small and large firms in Ireland and United Kingdom. He has been a part of the airline industry for nearly 30 years having commenced his first role at British Airways in August 1998.

Five years on from his graduation, his big break came with the English flag carrier in the role of a finance manager, a position he would hold for close to five years before being hired internally within the airline as an area manager of finance in the Asia Pacific region. Three years later, he became the finance director of British Airways’ freight division, BA World Cargo.

Thereafter, Doyle would go on to have a couple of 18-month stints in finance-related roles within the airline’s partnership unit and the partner strategy department before spending a year as the head of strategy and planning.

Soon afterward, he took up a role similar to that he pursued in the APAC region in the Americas, British Airways’ biggest market outside of Europe and the UK, later going on to serve as the director of their fleet network globally.

20 years on from his first position, Doyle moved within the International Airlines Group and joined his homeland’s flag carrier, Aer Lingus, as their chief executive officer. He was largely responsible for their boom during the 2019-20 fiscal year and managed to keep them afloat in the initial months of the coronavirus pandemic before heading back to British Airways.

In October 2020, Doyle was appointed as the chief executive officer of British Airways, in what is his eighth role with the airline. Later in 2025, he would have completed five years in the position while becoming one of the aviation industry’s most revered individuals.

British Airways CEO Sean Doyle | Photo: British Airways

British Airways CEO Salary

At the end of the 2022-23 fiscal year, Sean Doyle received an overall pay packet amounting to £1.5 million (approx. US$1.95 million). While £670,000 was the basic salary due to him, the remainder was received as part of performance-related bonuses as well as a result of dividends on his stock holdings as part of a senior role within the airline.

The amount fell significantly short of Virgin Atlantic’s CEO Shai Weiss, who took home an estimated US$4.85 million while Lufthansa’s CEO Carsten Spohr and Air France-KLM chief Ben Smith pocketed close to US$4.75 million apiece.

At the end of 2023-24, British Airways’ or the International Airlines Group’s books of accounts did not mention how much Sean Doyle’s overall package was, over and above his basic salary, although the IAG chief Luis Gallego, who heads all the airlines that are part of the group, took home a jaw-dropping £4.6 million (approx. US$6 million).

Photo: Clément Alloing

British Airways plans for 2025

British Airways ended 2024 on a positive note as they passed a probationary period in Pakistan to become the first western operator in the country. They operate flights to Islamabad from London’s Heathrow Airport on the Boeing 787.

For 2025, their main goal is to optimize their busier routes and continue to be cognisant to the dynamic demand at various destinations subject to the times of the year.

The airline will also invest in fleet modernisation whereas a part of the International Airline Group’s broader objective is to also make flying sustainable and improve the overall customer experience.

The route adjustments BA has made have either been effected already or will soon come into practice with cities like Bangkok, Delhi, Dubai, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Johannesburg, Mumbai, Newark, Philadelphia, Vancouver and Washington DC witnessing greater frequency, more seating capacity on flights or a combination of both subject to seasonal variations.

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