EasyJet says Stelios pressure ‘highly undesirable’

EasyJet’s CE has hit out at a “highly undesirable” intervention by its founder and largest shareholder, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, as the airline called a general meeting in the latest escalation of a dispute over its Airbus contract. The budget carrier announced Monday that investors would vote on a resolution to remove four of its directors, put forward by Haji-Ioannou as part of a long-running campaign to make the company reduce its fleet and cancel its Airbus contract. Johan Lundgren, CE, who is among the directors that shareholders will vote on removing, said the intervention was “unhelpful” and “a distraction” as the industry battled with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. “It’s highly undesirable,” he said. “Quite frankly we should be spending our time on the big issues that are at hand.” Haji-Ioannou, who with his family holds a 33.7% share in easyJet, has for years been at loggerheads with the company’s management over his demand that it reduce its fleet to 250 from 344. He has said the current size damages the airline’s profitability and has insisted it cancel its contract with Airbus for an order of 107 aircraft. “The scoundrels have not said how they can save easyJet from bankruptcy and keep paying Airbus. Cancelling the Airbus contract is the only chance we have to save easyJet,” he said Monday.<br/>