Shareholders have staged a protest at Virgin Australia’s AGM after 16 per cent of votes were cast against the remuneration report, despite the company climbing out of a $68 million loss last financial year and returning to profit in the first quarter.

 

With the support near majority holding held between Virgin Group and Air New Zealand, Virgin Australia narrowly avoided the fates of Crown, Bluescope Steel and Cabcharge, who receive the ‘first strike’ under the Federal Government’s Corporate Government Laws.

 

The negative votes were cast against the short-term incentives awarded to the airline’s chief executive John Borghetti, which totaled around $880,000.