The chief executive of Jet2 and Jet2holidays saw his earnings rise by a quarter on the back of a jump in bonus payments.
Stephen Heapy’s total pay reached £944,000 in the year to the end of March after hitting various performance targets that triggered long-term incentive payments.
Under the company’s two separate bonus schemes, Heapy earned £435,000 compared to £308,000 the previous financial year.
His salary rose 14% to £433,000. His total pay includes pension payments and benefits, such as a fuel allowance, company car and private healthcare.
Dart Group’s annual report confirmed that Jet2 saw passenger numbers rise 17% to 7.1 million, helping push overall leisure travel revenue up by 24% to £1.56 billion.
However, as previously reported, annual pre-tax profits fell by 14% to £90.1 million due to “considerable investment” in new bases at Birmingham and Stansted airports.
Jet2holidays’ carryings grew by 42% to reach 1.73 million, with average holiday prices stable at £617.
Heapy, who joined Jet2’s parent company Dart Group plc in 2009, previously worked at MyTravel, Thomas Cook and Libra Holidays.
The annual report also highlighted the issue of false holiday illness claims.
The company said: “In common with the rest of the UK package travel industry, we have seen an increase in illness-related claims from UK consumers.
“We believe that many of these claims are questionable and we are working very closely with our hotel partners and the authorities on this issue.
“We will continue to actively lobby the UK government for changes to legislation and are seeing some success in this area.”
Dart Group also owns the distribution company Folwer Welch, where sales rose 14% to £163.5 million but operating profit fell by £900,000 to £4.5 million.
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