easyJet founder warns airline will ‘run out of money by August’ Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou calls for firm to cancel £4.5billion Airbus order

Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the founder of easyJet Plc has warned that he will not inject any fresh equity into the airline until it terminates a contract with Airbus SE for £4.5 billion ($5.50 billion).

IN his letter to the board of easyJet, Stelios also called for the removal of easyJet’s Chief Financial Officer Andrew Findlay, after earlier calling for a board meeting on a vote to remove Andreas Bierwirth as a director, which was rejected by easyJet.

EasyJet’s Chief Financial Officer Andrew Findlay, Stelios wants him out.

“If this £4.5 billion liability to Airbus is preserved – and not cancelled – by the easyJet board then, I regret to report, easyJet will run out of money around August 2020, perhaps even earlier,” the founder said in his letter.

“I will certainly not be throwing good money after bad. For the avoidance of doubt, I will not inject any fresh equity in easyJet whilst the Airbus liability is in place.”

He also stated that he will continue to call for the removal of more directors every time the company delays the vote.

He also wants easyJet to reduce its fleet size to 250 aircraft from 350, adding that the airline will not need any more additional new planes for many years to come.

easyJet’s entire fleet remains grounded.

Earlier easyJet had announced the grounding of its entire fleet

The budget airline easyJet says it is grounding its entire fleet of aircraft because of “unprecedented travel restrictions imposed by governments” amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The company grounded most of its planes last Tuesday but has been operating hundreds of rescue flights to bring home stranded customers. It will continue to work with authorities to operate additional rescue flights if requested.

easyJet says it can give no date for when it may be possible to restart commercial flights.

“As a result of the unprecedented travel restrictions imposed by governments in response to the coronavirus pandemic and the implementation of national lockdowns across many European countries, easyJet has, today, fully grounded its entire fleet of aircraft,” a statement sent to the London Stock Exchange read.

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Tony Winterburn

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