(Reuters) – EasyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou plans to call a truce in a dispute with the British airline’s management and support the purchase of 56 new Airbus aircraft, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Haji-Ioannou, airline’s biggest shareholder, is planning to vote in favor of a multibillion-dollar order with Airbus at a shareholder meeting on Wednesday, according to the report. (https://on.ft.com/3IPalKd)
Having founded easyJet in 1995, Haji-Ioannou quit the board in 2010 and has clashed several times with the management since.
EasyJet did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ request for comment.
Last month, EasyJet said it will buy 56 Airbus A320neo aircraft and convert a previous order to 18 new A321neo aircraft, fulfilling options in a 2013 deal with the European planemaker.
In December 2020, EasyJet agreed with Airbus to defer some deliveries of aircraft under the 2013 deal because the COVID-19 pandemic had put its finances under severe pressure.
The aircraft order had proved a source of dispute with Haji-Ioannou, who had opposed the investment at the height of the pandemic.
(The story refiles to correct day in first paragraph to Wednesday.)
(Reporting by Sneha Bhowmik in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
