Willie Walsh's total pay soars to almost £5m at International Airlines Group

International Airlines Group chief executive Willie Walsh quintupled his pay last year with salary and bonuses of almost £5m, at a time when pilots and crew in Iberia were taking swingeing pay cuts.

Walsh took a performance-related bonus for 2013, according to the airline's annual report, having passed one up the previous year as the group formed by the controversial merger of British Airways and Spanish flag carrier Iberia made a loss.

However, a recent agreement with unions appeared to have ended the threat of industrial action and reconciled Spanish staff to Walsh's restructuring plan, which has seen thousands of jobs cut at the struggling airline and other staff agreeing to downgraded pay and conditions.

Last week IAG returned to the black as it reported full-year profits of €227m (£186m), with Iberia having curbed its losses – it had been losing more than €1m a day at its bleakest point after the merger. The acquisition of Spanish low-cost carrier Vueling has also bolstered the group's finances while the integration of Bmi has firmed up BA's position at Heathrow.

In the report, Walsh said: "I look back on last year with a sense of real pride and achievement for what people within IAG have done to put the business on a more secure footing." He said he was targeting operating profits of €1.8bn by 2015, and claimed: "We continue to prove the critical logic of merging British Airways and Iberia through the cost and revenue synergies we are achieving."

He said that these savings were now exceeding IAG's original targets. IAG's share price has trebled in the last 18 months, boosting Walsh's claims to have turned the group around. He received a £1.3m bonus with long term share awards worth £2.6m vesting, on top of £825,000 in salary and around £250,000 in pension and benefits.

Keith Williams, the chief executive of British Airways, was paid £3m. Iberia's boss, Luis Gallego Martín, took a 15% voluntary cut.

Spanish pilots union Sepla said that the pay rise for Walsh seemed "exaggerated" when its members had taken a 14% pay cut. Gallego also passed up his potential bonus of €630,000.

However, Walsh's bulging pay packet is still less than the sum taken by EasyJet chief executive Carolyn McCall this year. A combination of salary, annual bonus and long-term incentives payments to the boss, who joined in 2010, saw the budget airline pay out £6.5m to McCall.

Baroness Kingsmill, the chair of the IAG remuneration committee, said: "Once again, the chief executive of IAG has continued to lead by example in proposing restraint in executive packages."