The new boss of easyJet has volunteered to have his salary cut to the same level of his female predecessor to show his "personal commitment" to equal pay.

Johan Lundgren’s annual starting salary of £740,000 is being reduced to match the £706,000 that was being earned by Dame Carolyn McCall before she left the airline.

Easyjet revealed in November that its female staff earn on average about half the rate paid to men. This is blamed on the fact that its pilots are predominantly male, with salaries several times higher than those of majority-female cabin crew.

Mr Lundgren took over at the airline last month as Dame Carolyn departed for a new role as chief executive of broadcaster ITV.

Easyjet said that his remuneration package - including annual bonus and long-term incentive plan - would now be "identical" to that of his predecessor.


Image: Dame Carolyn McCall has taken over as head of ITV

Mr Lundgren said: "At easyJet we are absolutely committed to giving equal pay and equal opportunity for women and men.

"I want that to apply to everybody at easyJet and to show my personal commitment I have asked the board to reduce my pay to match that of Carolyn’s when she was at easyJet.

"I also want to affirm my own commitment to address the gender imbalance in our pilot community which drives our overall gender pay gap.

"EasyJet has already gone further than other airlines in trying to attract more women into a career as a pilot.

"I want us not just to hit our target that 20% of our new pilots should be female by 2020 but to go further than this in the future."

Easyjet in November revealed a 45.5% average pay gap - comparing the midpoint, or median, in the salary range of women with that of men.

Using a different type of average - the mean, which takes in all pay across the workforce - the gap was 51.7%.

New laws require all companies with 250 or more employees to disclose details on their gender pay gaps.