The government plans to curb the salaries of Spain's 2,300 air traffic controllers to make the nation's loss-making airports more competitive, Public Works Minister Jose Blanco said.
The move comes after an audit of state-run airport management company AENA found that some controllers earned nearly 10 times more than Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, causing outrage in the recession-hit country.
Blanco said the government would slash the pay of the controllers to an average of around 200,000 euros (287,500 US dollars) per year from an average of 334,000 euros. This would make it possible to cut aviation taxes.
"The numbers speak for themselves. This is not efficient," he told reporters.
The audit found that 10 controllers earned between 810,000 euros and 900,000 euros a year, 226 earned between 450,000 and 540,000 euros, and 701 were paid between 270,000 and 360,000 euros.
By comparison Zapatero earns just under 92,000 euros a year while the average salary in Spain is just over 18,000 euros per year, according to government figures.
Centre-right daily newspaper El Mundo called the salaries earned by the controllers "scandalous".
Despite their high pay, the controllers staged a work-to-rule protest at the end of 2009 which caused flight delays during the busy Christmas period.
AENA, which manages Spain's 48 state-run airports, posted a lost of 300 million euros last year.