easyJet

easyJet

Haji-Ioannou founded easyJet with a discipline he imported from Southwest Airlines: single aircraft type, no free lunch, direct sales to travellers. The company floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2000 and joined the FTSE 100 in 2013. Its operating model strips out airport lounges and connecting bags, running dense networks of short-haul routes between primary and secondary airports. The fleet strategy rests on the Airbus A320-family, with firm orders that keep average gauge growing while unit costs fall. Three asset classes dominate its capital allocation: aircraft, slots, and working capital. easyJet deploys sale-and-leaseback transactions aggressively, owning a minority of its fleet outright (per the firm's annual report, 2024). Primary bases include London Gatwick, Milan Malpensa and Geneva, alongside holiday-focused bases in Palma de Mallorca and Lisbon. The company launched easyJet Holidays in 2019 as a separate legal entity to capture packaged leisure demand. Aside from its own board, the operational decisions sit with CEO Kenton Jarvis, who succeeded Johan Lundgren in January 2025 after serving as CFO during the post-Covid recovery. easyJet currently employs roughly 15,000 people. The fleet plan showed 346 aircraft at year-end fiscal 2023, with deliveries extending through 2029 (per Airbus order book). January 2025: The board promoted Kenton Jarvis to CEO as the carrier targets an 8% annual capacity expansion plan. The Haji-Ioannou family retains a stake above 15%, making easyJet one of the few large European carriers where a founder's economic interest still exerts structural influence. Stelios licenses the 'easy' brand to the airline through his separate entity, easyGroup, a governance arrangement that periodically surfaces in public royalty disputes.