America West’s Top Executives Take Pay Cuts

The highest-ranking executives at America West Airlines are taking pay cuts of 10% to 25% to reduce expenses at the Phoenix-based airline, battered by high fuel costs and a decline in travel.

The cuts, which took effect Feb. 1, affect about 85 people, spokesman Dik Shimizu said Friday. He declined to say how much money would be saved. “The intent is not so much to save a lot of money as it is to send a signal that the managers of this company are willing to make a sacrifice,” he said.

America West’s other 15,000 employees were recently asked to consider taking unpaid leaves to save the airline money during one of the slowest travel seasons ever. Northwest Airlines has also asked its employees to take leaves.

America West’s top executives are taking a 25% cut. According to America West’s 1990 proxy, the salary of Chairman Edward R. Beauvais would thus be reduced to $360,000 from $480,000. President Michael J. Conway is taking a $96,000 cut to $288,000.

The salary reductions came to light as America West launched a half-price ticket sale, widely viewed as a way for the airline to quickly raise cash.

Travel agents, swamped with ticket orders, complained that America West’s reservation system wasn’t able to keep up with the huge ticket volume. As a result of the backlog, some customers were booked Thursday on flights that had actually been sold out hours earlier.

Travel agents said the snafu angered some clients--suggesting that the promotion might end up alienating potential customers, instead of winning new fliers over to America West.

Efforts to contact America West added to the frustration. “I got a busy signal for half an hour,” said Northridge travel agent Susan Dushane. “It was sheer perseverance.”

Hutchinson acknowledged that the reservation system was having trouble keeping up with the volume. He insisted that the problem affected only about 1% of reservations.