easyJet (EZJ) founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou has opened fire on the airline’s board, requesting an extraordinary general meeting as he seeks to dismiss director Andreas Bierwirth over an aircraft order with Airbus (Fra:AIR).
Sir Stelios, who is also the airline’s biggest shareholder and owns roughly a third of the company, wrote to the board on 29 March calling for the cancellation of a £4.5bn aircraft order with Airbus. He has threatened to call an EGM every seven weeks in order to remove a director until the contract is addressed.
He decried easyJet’s failure to reference the contract in two recent profit warnings and warned that the company would not be able to afford the 107 aircraft it is due. The coronavirus pandemic has forced easyJet to ground its entire fleet and furlough its cabin crew. “It is unquestionable that the payments to Airbus constitute the largest single threat to the solvency of the company,” Sir Stelios wrote.
The founder also rejected easyJet’s need for government support during this crisis. easyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren told the BBC in March that he was seeking loans from the government. “We’re not asking for free money… we’re asking basically for the help and support to get liquidity on commercial terms,” he said.
Sir Stelios called on the airline to raise equity instead. “If we don’t pay Airbus we don’t need government loans,” he told the board.
easyJet acknowledged receipt today of a subsequent letter from its founder, which called for an EGM targeted at dismissing Dr Bierwirth.
