Stelios airline sparks new battle with easyJet

26th Sep 2011 15:45

Airline easyJet has come out fighting following news that founder and major shareholder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou is to launch his own airline, Fastjet.Sir Stelios has a 38% stake in easyJet and will net £72m from a special dividend the company agreed to pay following strong pressure from its founder.EasyJet issued a statement noting that it has received notice from Sir Stelios over his plans to set up an airline and that a website has already been established. The website does not yet have any details about the airline.EasyJet's statement says that it has a number of rights under agreements with Sir Stelios and his holding company easyGroup (which operates the low cost airport transfer company easyBus, the hotel group easyHotel and several other companies with the "easy" prefix)."To the extent that any activity of Fastjet, Sir Stelios or any company controlled by him infringes or would infringe those rights, easyJet will take necessary action to protect the rights of easyJet and the interests of its shareholders," easyJet said."Sir Stelios also alleges that easyJet has breached the terms of the binding comfort letter between him and easyJet of 10 October 2010 and that that letter is no longer in force, claims which easyJet emphatically rejects."---RG