EasyJet CEO takes pay cut in protest of gender pay gap

The CEO of British airline EasyJet, just warming his seat at the job he started December 1, has agreed to take a pay cut – a gesture to fight gender pay gap.

Johan Lundgren is reducing his salary from £740,000 ($1.4m) to match that of his predecessor Carolyn McCall, reported news.com.au.

"To show my personal commitment I have asked the board to reduce my pay to match that of Carolyn's when she was at EasyJet," Lundgren said.

The airline reported the third-largest mean gender pay gap of any of the 704 employers yet to disclose their figures to the government. Average male salary was 52 per cent higher than the average female salary.

Ninety-four percent of EasyJet’s pilots are men and the pay gap situation is due to women having lower-paying jobs such as flight attendants. Lundgren announced a plan to recruit more female pilots, with the aim of hitting 20 per cent by 2020.

"I also want to affirm my own commitment to address the gender imbalance in our pilot community which drives our overall gender pay gap."

Lundrgen’s move is being compared to Qantas boss Alan Joyce, whose income nearly doubled to A$25million last year even as he signed an agreement to ensure equal pay for equal work.

Gender pay gap remains an issue in Australia but figures show the rift is narrowing. In November, the gap was measured at 22.4%, down from 23.1% the previous year.