Southwest CEO’s compensation soars despite December debacle
DALLAS (AP) — The CEO of Southwest Airlines is seeing his compensation nearly double after getting promoted to the top job. A Southwest spokesman says CEO Robert Jordan would have gotten a bigger cash bonus if it weren’t for a December meltdown that caused nearly 17,000 flights to be canceled around the Christmas holiday. Southwest disclosed Thursday that Jordan got compensation last year that it valued at $5.3 million. Most of that is in stock awards valued at $3.6 million. The cash bonus was less than $200,000. Dallas-based Southwest earned $539 million last year despite a $220 million fourth-quarter loss.