To me the issue is not with the profit figures being massaged or even made up completely. I would like to know how they come up with the target every year as it just seems like a random number. Is it actually calculated at all or do they just think of a number and double it?
In years past, they actually looked at the flying in the coming year, calculated the projected yields and costs and came up with an expected number for the profit. They then increased that number somewhat (if I remember correctly) and that was the magic number for the profit share. The last few years it seems the target was simply the previous years profit.