Coronavirus: easyJet Founder Sir Stelios Sells £13m Stake amid Airbus Row

EASYJET founder and boss Sir Stelios is selling shares in the budget airline for the first time in five years. This comes at a time when there are tensions within the airline’s board over a multi-billion pound Airbus order.

Disposing of the tycoon’s stake will take his shareholding to just under one-third of easyJet ownership.

Since the extraordinary meeting on May 22 in which Sir Stelios announced his intentions, the company’s finance chief has resigned along with two non-executive directors.

The news of Sir Stelios’ share sale has emerged on the same day easyJet launched a joint legal action with British Airways and Ryanair to force the government to scrap its quarantine restrictions.

The main bone of contention between easyJet’s board members is a £4.5 billion order with Airbus for new planes. Sir Stelios wants easyJet to abandon the order, predicting that the firm will go bust unless it does.