DFW Airport gives CEO Sean Donohue a $60,000 raise as travel rebounds

DFW International Airport gave CEO Sean Donohue an 8% raise as he continues to preside over the nation’s second busiest airport and plans for more growth as travel demand surges.
The airport’s board of directors this week approved bumping up Donohue’s salary to $589,310 along with a bonus of $234,632. As airport CEO, Donohue is eligible for a bonus of up to 40% of his salary each year if the airport hits goals and fiscal plans, including customer satisfaction ratings for cleanliness.
With 60.9 million passengers through October, DFW has recovered 97% of the traveler traffic it had in 2019 even as total airline capacity is down due to an industrywide shortage of pilots and rising ticket prices.
“Over the past year, we witnessed a robust return to travel, and DFW Airport was prepared for it,” said Gloria Tarpley, vice chair for DFW’s governing board, in a statement. “We greeted nearly as many customers as in 2019 and had to manage ever-changing government mandates, supply chain issues, labor shortages, and despite it all, we did so while providing an elevated experience to our customers and by staying true to the strategic plan.
“This could not have been possible without Sean’s leadership and guidance,” she said.
DFW Airport CEO Sean Donohue discussing weather problems in 2019.
At DFW, Donohue presides over a budget that will reach a record of about $1.2 billion next year along with about 2,500 employees. But that’s only a fraction of the total enterprise as more than 60,000 people work at the airport. About half of those work for Fort Worth-based American Airlines, which counts DFW as its biggest hub.
Donohue is among the nation’s highest-paid airport executives, but there is little correlation between what airport leaders get paid and airport size. The CEO at the nation’s busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, makes about $310,000 a year and the CEO of Denver International Airport, the third biggest in the country, makes $266,000, according to the Denver Post.
Chicago’s aviation commissioner, which oversees both Chicago O’Hare and Midway Airports, makes about $275,000. Joe Lapano, CEO of the nation’s 29th largest airport in the country in Tampa, is among the highest-paid employees at more than $600,000, according to the Tampa Business Journal.
And while outside the U.S. slightly, the head of Toronto’s Pearson International Airport made more than $2 million last year, according to the Toronto Star.
Recently retired Dallas Love Field aviation director Mark Duebner made about $209,000 a year as an employee of the city-run airport.
While DFW Airport is technically owned jointly by the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth, it is run like its own independent body. Dallas appoints seven members of the 12-member board, Fort Worth gets four and there is a non-voting member that rotates between Irving, Grapevine, Euless and Coppell.