Delta Air Lines' chief executive and president said on Wednesday that their base pay did not change in 2008 and will not change this year.

In a memo to employees filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Delta executives also said they did not earn a bonus for last year.

In the memo, coming ahead of the carrier's annual proxy filing expected on Thursday, CEO Richard Anderson and President Ed Bastian said that outside of base pay and benefits, about 85 percent of their ongoing compensation was based on Delta's stock increasing over time, and paying profit-sharing to employees.

"For example, since Delta was not profitable in 2008 and you did not receive a profit-sharing payment, we did not earn a bonus under the annual cash incentive plan," the executives said in the memo.

The executives noted that the proxy will report special stock awards tied to the carrier's emergence from bankruptcy in 2007 and the merger with Northwest last year.

The memo said "awards for us and the rest of the executive team were restricted and had no immediate value to us." They did not give details on the size of the special stock awards.

The memo added that 2008 take-home pay was USD$2.5 million for Anderson and USD$5.2 million for Bastian. It noted that the take-home pay amounts included cash and benefits plus the value of vested stock.