United Airlines cuts COO Hart’s pay by $1 million over Port Authority probe

Thomson ReutersFile photo of a United Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner touching down at San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco

(Reuters) – United Continental Holdings Inc said in a proxy statement Friday that it cut the pay of one of its top officers in connection with an internal probe that resulted in its chief executive’s resignation last year.

The 2015 annual incentive pay of Chief Operations Officer Greg Hart was reduced by $1 million in connection with a probe into the No.3 U.S. airline’s relationship with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The internal probe focused on whether United added flights to Columbia, South Carolina to curry favor with then-Port Authority Chairman David Samson, who had a home there. United has also disclosed two government probes related to the matter.

United spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said in a statement that the company did not have anything to add beyond what it had disclosed.

The proxy statement said its separation agreement with Jeff Smisek, made effective on Sept. 8, gave the outgoing chief executive $36.8 million in severance payments and benefits.

His successor, Oscar Munoz, abstained from voting on the separation agreement between United and Smisek, according to the filing.

(Reporting By Jeffrey Dastin in New York; Editing by Kim Coghill)

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