Stelios and easyJet ‘agree truce over growth plans’
24.07.09
easyJet will signal a cessation of hostilities with Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, its founder, this week following an eight-month public battle over its expansion plans, the Telegraph reports. The budget airline, which will update the stock market on its recent trading performance on Wednesday, will tell investors that it has agreed a revised growth plan with which its major shareholders, including Sir Stelios, are comfortable.
The airline has been in dispute with its biggest shareholder since last November, when Sir Stelios criticised easyJet's plans to progress an order for 91 Airbus aircraft despite the global downturn in the aviation industry. The newspaper reports that easyJet will announce plans to expand its fleet by between 5 and 10 percent annually, a significant slowdown in the rate of growth it has achieved in recent years.
The compromise agreement is reported to focus on exchanging some of the new aircraft for older planes acquired by easyJet when it bought GB Airways last year. A number of aircraft due for delivery in the next 18 months will also be handed over to easyJet at a later date. It is not expected that the revised delivery schedule will incur financial penalties from aircraft manufacturer Airbus.
An 'insider' told the newspaper: ‘The revised agreement will leave nobody in any doubt that easyJet remains a growth company.’ easyJet and Sir Stelios declined to comment.
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