Commenting on easyJet’s pre-close statement, the airline’s founder and largest shareholder, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou said:
“The easyJet scoundrels must stop squandering shareholders’ money on buying 100 more planes when 75% of the current fleet (337 planes) is just sitting idle on the tarmac.
“The scoundrels have lost around £1.3 billion of shareholders’ equity in the last 12 months and yet want to keep buying more and more aircraft.
“Airbus has been convicted in the High Court in London of bribing airlines executives all over the world, who have been pressured into buying more planes than they should – thereby destroying airlines’ shareholder value.
“This has to stop. The UK taxpayer will not get back its £600m in March 2021 because the scoundrels at easyJet have sent the cash to the kings of corruption in Toulouse.”