A hefty bonus helped FedEx CIO Robert Carter net a pay package of $5.8 million for fiscal 2012, an 80% increase from his fiscal year 2011 package of $3.2 million, the shipping company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday. Carter, who also serves as executive vice president of FedEx Information Services, earned a performance-based cash bonus of roughly $2.4 million, up from a 2011 bonus of $213,629 a year ago.

Carter’s big pay package was revealed three months after FedEx CEO Fred Smith, who pioneered the modern airfreight business and has built the world’s largest cargo airline by revenue, said in May that Carter is among the best, if not the best CIO, in the world. Carter is credited with using IT to improve the customer experience, including overseeing the development of an application that allows customers to print documents from their smart phone when they enter a FedEx Office store.

FedEx, which concluded its fiscal year 2012 May 31, revealed compensation for its top executives in a proxy filing August 13. The company said its payouts were linked to strong financial results, “led by increased yields across all our transportation segments, despite slow economic growth.” FedEx complements executive salaries with long-term incentive compensation, which is tied to earnings-per-share growth over a three-year period. Fiscal year 2012 was the first since 2008 where company executives where paid long-term incentives, FedEx said in the filing.

Long-term incentive pay accounted for $1.8 million of Carter’s $2.4 million bonus, with the remaining $625,551 of the bonus awarded from FedEx’s annual incentive compensation plan. Carter earned $760,810 in base salary; $623,735 in stock awards; $655,217 in option awards; and $877,959 from a change in his pension value. Carter also received compensation perks totaling $430,844; these included tax reimbursements payments; personal use of company aircraft; security services and equipment; and financial counseling.

Carter’s payday may represent a reversal of fortune for CIOs who took pay cuts in fiscal year 2011. As CIO Journal noted in April, three of the top four CIOs took pay cuts in 2011. That included Carter, whose total payout dropped to $3.2 million in 2011 from $3.6 million in 2010 due to decreases in stock compensation.