Working for Qantas has been a miserable experience for many employees in recent years, with the airline slashing jobs in an attempt to make itself competitive.

But following the dramatic turnaround this year, suddenly working for the national carrier doesn’t look so bad.

• Flying roo bounces back
• Qantas cuts ‘unbelievably significant’ deal
• Jetstar staff accept pay freeze

On Friday Qantas announced it would pay 28,000 of its employees bonuses worth five per cent of their annual income.

In total, the airline will pay $90 million in bonuses. Qantas management will hope this will make up, in part, for the wage freezes that employees have agreed to in enterprise bargaining agreements, as part of the radical cost-cutting efforts.

Qantas Group chief executive Alan Joyce said the bonus was “recognition of the contribution made by all employees to strengthening the Group’s long-term competitive position through the wage freeze and the delivery of all Qantas Transformation targets on or ahead of schedule”.

“The rapid turnaround of the Qantas Group has only been made possible through the dedication and hard work of all our people,” said Mr Joyce.

“Our ability to make these bonus payments reflects a bright future for the Qantas Group, provided we stay focussed on fully delivering the transformation program that has brought us this far.”

An investigation by News Corp in 2011 found that Qantas pilots earned between $126,313 and $536,221.

Engineers earned between $53,716 and $113,516, while the lowest paid employees of the airline – those represented by the Transport Workers’ Union – earned between $35,472 a year to $48,271.