In 10 months as Continental's CEO, Jeff Smisek has successfully navigated a merger between two of the largest airlines in the world, Continental and United, all while forfeiting his salary and bonus until the airline made a profit.

So no one's saying that Smisek hasn't earned his pay. But his salary as CEO of the new United is raising a few eyebrows.

According to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Smisek will now earn $975,000 annually and be eligible for a bonus worth 150 percent of his salary. He also has a long-term incentive grant of $8.4 million and a merger bonus of $4 million.

This is a nearly 25 percent increase over his salary as Continental's CEO, where he earned $730,000. (Though, again, he elected not to accept his salary or bonus while the company operated at a loss.)

It also places him as the highest paid airline CEO in the business. United's former CEO, Glenn Tilton, earned a salary of $850,000 and total compensation of $3.9 million in 2009. Tilton will stay with the company through 2012 as the non-executive chairman, earning a salary of $600,000 and $150,000 in stock.

In comparison, Delta CEO Richard Anderson earned $600,000 in salary and $8.4 million total in 2009, US Airways head Doug Parker made $550,000 in salary and $2.3 million total, and Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly earned $441,750, with total compensation of $1.6 million after giving himself a 10-percent salary cut in 2009 in the wake of quarterly losses.

But maybe the best comparison for a CEO salary isn't other CEOs.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average first-year flight attendant made $16,191 in 2009. That's below the poverty line for a single worker with two children. Co-pilots starting out at United or Continental earned about $27,000. These figures go up based on experience and if an employee works extra flights, but it does seem slightly wrong that a corporate head earns several hundred times what his employees do.

The heads of the airline employee unions have taken note of Smisek's earnings and hope to use it to get substantial wage increases for their members.

"Jeff Smisek has an opportunity to earn his pay by ensuring we all participate in the success of the airline. And his handsome salary signals the airline can provide industry-leading compensation to all workers," Sara Nelson, a spokeswoman for the United flight attendants, told the Houston Chronicle.

"We are glad to see that the coffers are full enough to hand out substantial pay raises, and we are looking forward to similar increases for our pilots," added Capt. Jay Pierce, chairman of the Continental chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association.

So our congrats to Mr. Smisek, with hopes that this new mega United performs as well as his salary would imply, and that the success is shared with the employees who make that possible — especially the ones staying in Houston.