Singapore Airlines (SQ) just disclosed what it pays the man running one of the world’s most decorated airlines — and the number is bigger than most people expect, even though the airline’s profit went the other way this year.
Here’s the real breakdown, sourced directly from SIA’s FY2025/26 annual report and the outlets that covered its release, plus how Goh Choon Phong’s pay stacks up against his counterparts at Cathay Pacific and All Nippon Airways.
The Headline Number of SQ’s CEO Salary: S$9.7 Million
For the financial year ended 31 March 2026, Goh Choon Phong’s total remuneration came to S$9.7 million (roughly US$7.5 million) — a 38% jump from the year before, according to VnExpress International and CNA’s coverage via The Independent.
What makes that jump notable is the context: SIA Group’s net profit fell sharply for the year, even as revenue hit a record S$20.5 billion and passenger numbers reached an all-time high of 42.2 million. The disconnect comes down to how the pay package is structured — most of it isn’t base salary at all.
The Actual Breakdown of Singapore Airlines CEO Salary
According to SIA’s own annual report, disclosed under its “Declared Basis B” format, Goh’s FY2025/26 package splits out as follows:
| Component | Amount | Share of total |
|---|---|---|
| Base salary | S$1.46 million | 15% |
| Performance bonus | S$3.34 million | 35% |
| Share-based awards | S$4.75 million | 49% |
| Benefits | S$144,210 | ~1% |
The single biggest line item — nearly half his pay — is share-based awards, and it’s worth understanding why. That S$4.75 million tranche was a conditional share award granted in July 2025, but it was earned for the previous financial year’s performance (FY2024/25), under a long-term retention scheme SIA introduced during Covid-19 to keep senior executives from jumping ship during the crisis. In other words, this year’s headline pay figure is partly a delayed reward for a prior, stronger year — which is why it rose even as current-year profit dropped.
For comparison, in FY2024/25 (the year ending March 2025), Goh’s total pay was S$7.01 million, itself a 13.5% decline from the S$8.11 million he received the year before — despite SIA posting a record S$2.78 billion net profit that year. Pay and profit at SIA don’t move in lockstep year to year — the share scheme creates a lag.
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Who Is Goh Choon Phong?
Goh has run Singapore Airlines since January 2011, making him one of the longest-serving CEOs among major global carriers. He joined SIA in 1990 and worked his way up through finance, marketing, and regional leadership roles — including stints overseeing the airline’s operations in China and Scandinavia — before taking the top job.
His tenure has spanned the airline’s most turbulent stretch in decades: he steered SIA through the pandemic-era shutdown of global travel and the subsequent recovery, which turned into one of the most profitable periods in the airline’s history. He also sits on the boards of Air India, Mastercard, and Budget Aviation Holdings.
How Goh’s Pay Compares to Other Asian Airline CEOs
Cathay Pacific: Ronald Lam
Cathay Pacific’s CEO, Ronald Lam, has been in the role since January 2023. His most recently disclosed full-year package — covering 2024 — was HK$14.15 million (roughly US$1.8 million), up 35% from HK$10.45 million the year before, according to the South China Morning Post. That increase drew public criticism from pilot unions over the widening gap between executive and frontline pay.
Even at the top end, Lam’s disclosed compensation sits at roughly a fifth of Goh’s — reflecting both Hong Kong’s more conservative executive-pay norms for listed companies and Cathay’s smaller scale relative to SIA.
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All Nippon Airways: a leadership change worth flagging
This is where the original story needs a correction, not just an update. Shinichi Inoue is no longer ANA’s CEO. He was succeeded by Juichi Hirasawa as President and CEO of ANA Holdings effective 1 April 2026, with Inoue moving into a Senior Advisor role, per ANA’s official announcement and Aviation Week. Any 2026 article naming Inoue as ANA’s active chief executive is already out of date.
ANA Holdings does not break out individual executive pay in the same granular way SIA and Cathay do in the sources reviewed here, so rather than repeat an unverified figure, the safest fact-based takeaway is this: Japanese executive compensation, including in aviation, is structurally far more restrained than in Singapore or Hong Kong, and even under a new CEO that broader pattern is unlikely to change quickly.
Where That Leaves Goh
Even accounting for the lag effect in his pay structure, Goh Choon Phong’s compensation sits well above his regional peers — a gap that reflects SIA’s premium brand positioning, Temasek-linked governance structure, and its status as one of the most consistently profitable full-service carriers in Asia, rather than any one year’s results in isolation.
Why the Structure Matters More Than the Headline Figure
The temptation with any CEO pay story is to treat the top-line number as a scorecard for “how well is the company doing right now.” SIA’s own disclosures show why that’s misleading here: a S$9.7 million payout arrived in a year of falling profit, because a large chunk of it was compensation for a different, better year, paid out on a delay through share awards designed to retain leadership through volatility.
That’s a deliberate design choice, not an accounting quirk — and it’s common across airlines recovering from the pandemic-era exodus of senior talent. Whether it’s the right structure is a separate, more debatable question; what the disclosed numbers do show clearly is that Goh’s total pay remains the highest among the major Asian network carriers compared here.
FAQ
How much did the Singapore Airlines CEO earn in FY2025/26?
S$9.7 million (about US$7.5 million), per SIA’s FY2025/26 annual report.
Did his pay rise because SIA had a great year?
Not directly — SIA’s net profit fell sharply in FY2025/26. The rise came mainly from a conditional share award tied to the prior year’s performance, paid out under a retention scheme introduced during Covid-19.
Is Shinichi Inoue still ANA’s CEO?
No. Juichi Hirasawa succeeded him as President and CEO of ANA Holdings on 1 April 2026.
How does Goh’s pay compare to Cathay Pacific’s CEO?
Ronald Lam’s most recently disclosed full-year package (2024) was HK$14.15 million (~US$1.8 million) — a fraction of Goh’s total.