Stock Bonuses Mean Over $5K Per Worker

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." While Charles Dickens never laid his eyes on an airplane, he could have written such a phrase about the cyclical nature of the aviation biz. After all, it was just over a year ago when things were looking bleaker than bleak over at Boeing. In the wake of an Air Force procurement scandal, the company was also dealing with the fallout from the sudden resignation of CEO Harry Stonecipher. Sales were lagging, too.

But, to cite another historic phrase... that was then, and this is now. Business is booming for Boeing, management appears to have stabilized, and the company's chief rival, Airbus, is seen as floundering... and, the Associated Press reports that means a nice summer bonus for thousands of workers at the aerospace company.

Under most workers' pay plans, every two years employees receive a bonus of the company's stock goes up more than 3 percent a year over that period. To say Boeing's stock beat that would be a gross understatement... as the stock is up 24 percent over the past 12 months, building on a 29 percent increase the year before.

That works out to about a $5,400 pre-tax bonus per worker, which they will receive in August.

While that sounds like a pretty good deal (it easily trumps ANN's 'You're Getting Paid To Write About Airplanes, There's Yer Bonus' Program -- Ed.), it doesn't come close to the package Boeing's top executives are slated to receive.

For example... commercial airplane unit chief Alan Mulally received stock bonuses this year worth more than $6.5 million.

FMI: www.boeing.com