Head hunters will be flocking to easyJet after chief executive Andy Harrison announced his intention to quit the firm in June next year, sparking a 4.6 per cent fall in the airline's share price. At the same time, deputy chairman Michael Rake steps into the hot seat to head the board.
Mr Harrison's resignation after four years in the job was described as a desire to find new challenges, without those actually being specified. The later stages of his tenure were marked by disagreements between the board and founder and major shareholder Stelios Haji-Ioannou over the company's growth strategy during the recession. A compromise was eventually reached, but the company is still without a permanent chief financial officer after Jeff Carr left last year because Mr Haji-Ioannou refused to sign-off the accounts.
