Aéroports de Montréal (ADM) senior executives shared nearly $1.2 million in bonuses for 2021, while traffic and revenues were still strongly affected by the pandemic.
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The information appears in ADM’s 2022 annual report, released this week. The sum of $1.2 million was paid to the organization’s CEO, Philippe Rainville, and seven vice-presidents. ADM refused to detail the share due to each.
“It’s up to the board, depending on the objectives that have been set for us – they’re the ones who determined [si] we deserved [les bonis] or not,” said Mr. Rainville Thursday, during a press briefing after ADM’s annual meeting.
The president of the board is Danielle Laberge, professor emeritus at UQAM, who earned more than $185,000 last year to hold this position at ADM.
In 2021, the organization recorded a net loss of more than $230 million while its revenues barely reached $278 million, or 39% of those of 2019. Montreal-Trudeau airport welcomed just over 5, 2 million passengers in 2021, compared to nearly $16 million in 2022.
“The granting of bonuses is done according to a basket of various objectives and not according to the number of passengers”, specified a spokesperson for ADM, Eric Forest, referring in particular to the need “to attract and retain talent in a context of labor shortages.
The big bosses of the organization had not received any performance bonus for the year 2020, the program having then been “put on hold” due to the pandemic.
big pay rise
In addition, Philippe Rainville was entitled last year to a 16.2% increase in his base salary, which rose from $461,295 to $536,000. However, the median salary increase within ADM was 5% in 2022.
It should be remembered that thousands of travelers paid the price last summer for major disruptions linked to the rapid resumption of air travel. Scenes of chaos at the Montreal-Trudeau airport made headlines for several days.
“We had our share of problems, absolutely,” admitted Mr. Rainville.
“You have to see, in the problems we had, what is the responsibility of the local airport versus the surrounding circumstances,” he added, referring to air carriers, baggage handlers, the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (responsible for search stations) and the Border Services Agency.
He promises a better summer
Philippe Rainville said he was hopeful that the situation will be better this summer and next summer. However, he warned that travelers could again encounter major obstacles from 2025 due to various works that will be underway at Montréal-Trudeau.
Noting that the pandemic has cost ADM $ 1 billion, the leader indicated that the organization, for lack of money, “will not be able to properly harmonize the needs and the new infrastructures”.
ADM plans to welcome 25 million passengers at Montréal-Trudeau in 2028 and 35 million in 2050, compared to 20 million in 2019.
Mr. Rainville also announced Thursday that he would retire this fall after more than six years at the head of ADM and 15 years in the organization.