When an aircraft manufacturer delivers hundreds of additional devices per year and reports around 5 billion euros in profit, the question of value sharing quickly arises on the ground. At Airbus, this question takes on a specific face: that of Guillaume Faury, whose compensation package crystallizes the tensions between the group’s financial performance and the salary reality of the teams.
Guillaume Faury’s salary is not just a number in an annual report; it is a signal sent to shareholders, unions, and the 130,000 employees of the group.
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Climate and safety criteria in Airbus CEO’s bonus
Since the 2023-2025 compensation policy, Airbus’s Board of Directors has strengthened the role of extra-financial criteria in the calculation of Guillaume Faury’s bonus. This aspect has evolved more than the other components of the package in recent years.
The goals for reducing CO₂ emissions and improving fleet eco-efficiency represent about 20% of the weighting of his long-term variable compensation. The rest is divided between EBIT (40%) and net cash flow (40%). The 2024 scheme has gone further by integrating safety and compliance indicators.
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The evolution of Guillaume Faury’s salary is thus reflected as much in the “euros” column as in the criteria grid that conditions each portion of his variable compensation. A maximum bonus capped as a multiple of the fixed salary prevents any spike in case of one-off overperformance, but the group’s decarbonization trajectory now directly impacts the final amount.
Airbus executive compensation and social tensions at French sites
At the French production sites, the subject is not discussed in terms of EBIT weighting or ESG criteria. We are talking about bonuses halved, strikes, and recurring salary mobilizations.
Airbus has reported record results. At the same time, several bonuses paid to employees have been cut in half according to feedback published on social media and in the regional press. This gap fuels internal discourse on value sharing between executives and staff.
The issue is not just about the amounts. What is coming from the ground is the question of the signal sent by a significant increase in the CEO’s compensation when, at the same time, the conditions for variable compensation are tightening for the rest of the staff. The mobilizations at the French sites are not solely about base salaries but about this feeling of asymmetry.
What employees are concretely pointing out
- Participation or profit-sharing bonuses decreasing despite the group’s historic profits
- A tightening of the criteria for awarding variable compensation for non-executive employees
- Insufficient internal communication on the mechanisms linking group performance and redistribution to teams
We can discuss the legitimacy of each claim, but the fact is that the perspective is not the same whether you sit on the Board of Directors or work on an assembly line.
Structure of Guillaume Faury’s package: fixed, variable, and performance shares
To understand what the Airbus CEO’s compensation really represents, we need to break down the package. A gross figure like the 4.9 million euros announced for 2023 doesn’t say much if we don’t know what it consists of.
The structure is based on three pillars:
- The fixed salary, which serves as the calculation base for capping the variable portion
- The annual variable compensation, conditioned on operational and extra-financial indicators (EBIT, cash flow, climate and safety criteria)
- Performance shares, awarded over several years and subject to presence conditions and achievement of long-term objectives
The Board of Directors has codified an explicit cap for the variable portion, expressed as a multiple of the fixed salary. This mechanism mechanically limits compensation even when results exceed expectations.
The growing weight of performance shares
Since 2021, the criteria for awarding performance shares have evolved to include decarbonization objectives. We are no longer just talking about stock prices or operational profitability. Performance shares link the executive’s wealth to the group’s ESG trajectory, which changes the nature of the risk for the CEO.
Shareholder voting on the compensation policy (say on pay) also plays a regulatory role. At Airbus, these votes have so far validated the structure proposed by the Board, but the rise of activist funds on governance issues could alter this balance in the coming years.
Airbus CEO salary and ranking of European aerospace executives
In the European aerospace industry, Guillaume Faury’s compensation places him among the highest-paid executives. This positioning is explained by the size of Airbus (the world’s largest manufacturer in terms of deliveries in certain years), but also by the complexity of the role: managing ramp-up, supply chain tensions, regulatory pressure on decarbonization.
The ranking of executive compensations in the sector is not limited to comparing fixed salaries. The packages include very different components from one group to another, making direct comparisons fragile. What distinguishes Airbus is the weight of extra-financial criteria in the variable portion, which is higher than that of most competitors.
Airbus’s financial results, driven by a massive order book and sustained demand in commercial aviation, justify high compensation from the Board’s perspective. From the perspective of employees mobilized at production sites, the same reasoning should apply to all staff. This tension is not unique to Airbus, but it takes on a particular intensity given the gap between reported profits and the adjustments imposed on employee bonuses.
The upcoming shareholder vote on say on pay will provide an indication of the group’s ability to maintain this balance between the attractiveness of the executive position and the social acceptability of the salary gap.