Here is a letter to employees,
November 29, 2007
Dear Fellow Employee,
Today US Airways filed a Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission that provides information about my employment agreement as well as new executive Change in Control (CIC) agreements.
The filing of new CIC agreements is occurring now because the protection provided under the former agreements recently expired on the two-year anniversary of our AWA/US merger (Sept. 27, 2007). It’s typical for companies to provide certain severance protections for management employees who may lose their jobs during a takeover, merger or other change in control of the airline. In particular, as we’ve recruited new talent to our team from outside US Airways, it has become clear that CIC agreements are required to attract quality people. And although recent rumors of industry consolidation may make the timing appear suspect, I can assure you there’s nothing driving today’s filing other than administrative needs to put new agreements in place for our team.
Regarding my employment agreement, and as I’ve said in the past, it is always my intent to be open and honest about my compensation. In my renewed employment agreement, my salary, which has been the same since I took my job in 2001, remains at $550,000 per year. Other elements of my compensation, such as my bonus and current equity holdings, also remain unchanged.
Most employees know I am the only company officer who has an employment contract and this new agreement runs through December 2011. Many of the changes in my new agreement are administrative in nature (i.e., changing the name of the corporation to reflect “US Airways Group, Inc.†and also ensuring my contract complies with new federal laws that govern deferred compensation). The entire agreement is filed with the SEC so anyone who wants to read through it has that opportunity.
I should also note that all of our executive compensation programs are adopted by the US Airways Board of Directors’ Compensation and Human Resources Committee. This Committee takes a lot of time to compare our executives’ total compensation against the total compensation of their peers at other airlines, with an eye toward ensuring that our compensation programs are competitive.
I appreciate that the Board has expressed its confidence in me and I’m more than happy to formalize my long-term commitment to our employees, customers and shareholders. We’ve done quite a bit in a relatively short period of time and we have much more to come. Today our focus is on building the kind of operational performance that our employees want to deliver and that our customers deserve.
More details are available in the 8-K filed today and if you have questions, please send an e-mail to
[email protected].
We just completed a terrific holiday weekend from an operational standpoint and I can’t thank you enough for all you are doing to take care of our customers during the next few weeks.