Thomas Cook chief executive Manny Fontenla-Novoa was given a performance-related bonus of £5 million and pay rise of 34% last year.
According to the company’s 2008 annual report, Fontenla-Novoa’s salary increased from a base salary of £633,000 to £850,000 for operational and strategic achievements during the October 2007 to October 2008 financial year.
The additional £5 million bonus is a result of the travel boss exceeding savings targets after the merger with MyTravel.
A Thomas Cook spokeswoman stressed the rises were performance related and not linked to 2,800 job cuts made by the company in June 2007. She added: “Manny’s pay and benefits would have been paid because of certain strategic goals that he delivered and in many areas over-delivered on.”