EasyJet hits back at Stelios claims

18th Jul 2011 17:32

Budget airline easyJet has responded to founder and shareholder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou's complaints about its expansion plans, saying it rejects all of his allegations of wrongdoing and inviting him for a private meeting with the chairman.In a letter released to the London Stock Exchange last week, Sir Stelios - who is chairman of easyGroup Holdings, a company that licenses the easyJet brand and other "easy" brand names including easyCar and easyHotel - accused easyJet directors of an 'incestuous' relationship with manufacturer Airbus. The letter followed an announcement by the airline in January that it had struck an agreement with Airbus to exercise options over 15 Airbus A320 aircraft for delivery between 2012 and 2014 and to secure new options over a further 33 A320 aircraft.Sir Stelios said that the airline "should have obtained fresh shareholder approval to purchase aircraft at a price that is almost double the so-called list price disclosed to shareholders the last time they were given the chance to vote on an aircraft order". But easyJet said today that its Airbus order had not required shareholder approval and rejected all of easyGroup's allegations of wrongdoing.The company also said that is has "invited Sir Stelios to meet with the chairman to discuss the company's strategy in private."EasyJet's chairman is Michael Rake, who is also the chairman of BT. Sir Stelios, with his family, owns 38% of easyJet's shares.---RG