Stelios claims victory in easyJet

Easyjet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou is claiming victory in his row with the airline’s management after the board said today it was prepared to pare back its expansion plans.

But the public row has lost Stelios fans among easyJet‘s institutional shareholders: in the vote to re-elect Stelios as a non-executive director more than a fifth of the shares cast refused to back him.

The board today bowed to pressure from 41 per cent-shareholder Stelios by saying it could scrap plans to grow its fleet by 20 per cent over the next three years.

With latest statistics revealing easyJet’s current passenger growth has all but ground to a halt  -  January numbers plunged to a low of growth of 2.8 per cent  -  chairman Sir Colin Chandler indicated plans to add 30 aircraft to take its fleet size to 197 by 2011, could be shelved.

In recent months Stelios has said the management’s growth plans are imprudent but as recently as a fortnight ago, at its quarterly results, directors were sticking to their fleet expansion plans.

The row has seen Stelios refuse to sign off the company’s report and accounts, stating easyJet is a maturing airline which should start conserving cash and think about paying its shareholders a dividend.

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