Stelios calls truce in battle with EasyJet management – FT
2022.07.20 09:17
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FILE PHOTO: The easyJet Airbus A320-251N is seen in Nice international airport before its inaugural flight between Nice and Tenerife, in Nice, France, September 19, 2018. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard
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(Reuters) – EasyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou plans to call a truce in a dispute with the British airline’s management and support the purchase of 56 new Airbus aircraft, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Haji-Ioannou, airline’s biggest shareholder, is planning to vote in favor of a multibillion-dollar order with Airbus at a shareholder meeting on Wednesday, according to the report. (https://on.ft.com/3IPalKd)
Having founded easyJet (LON:EZJ) in 1995, Haji-Ioannou quit the board in 2010 and has clashed several times with the management since.
EasyJet did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ request for comment.
Last month, EasyJet said it will buy 56 Airbus A320neo aircraft and convert a previous order to 18 new A321neo aircraft, fulfilling options in a 2013 deal with the European planemaker.
In December 2020, EasyJet agreed with Airbus to defer some deliveries of aircraft under the 2013 deal because the COVID-19 pandemic had put its finances under severe pressure.
The aircraft order had proved a source of dispute with Haji-Ioannou, who had opposed the investment at the height of the pandemic.
(The story refiles to correct day in first paragraph to Wednesday.)
