I attended a Roadshow given by JB a while back (2005?) where he showed us a chart of selected legacy airline's gross salary for Captains. I remember the likes of Lufthansa and BA were at the top, SIA down the bottom and Qantas was almost exactly in the middle. Since that time our pay hasn't kept up with CPI, so unless those other airlines have taken significant pay cuts, I'd imagine we're still near the middle of the pack.
And just in case the rumour resurfaces that Qantas executives are the best paid in the world, Delta's CEO earned over US$8million last year.
Delta has a fleet of 700+ aircraft and 12000 pilots.
International comparisons are always going to flatter Australian salaries currently due to the exchange rate.
Ok, even if you take 20% off AJs earnings to account for the exchange rate he's still getting paid significantly more than other comparable airline CEOs.
But Qantas aren't out of line with other companies now and frankly the performance related structure (but not the magnitude) of his contract is far more palatable to shareholders than a seniority system.
I take it that you think the seniority system promotes mediocrity. I find it amusing that in the very same sentence you find it palatable that a mediocre CEO is not penalised for poor performance.