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(Adds detail, background, easyJet statement)
LONDON, April 6 (Reuters) - Stelios Haji-Ioannou, easyJet's
founder and biggest shareholder, on Monday intensified
his battle with the airline's management over a huge aircraft
order with Airbus which he says it should cancel.
Haji-Ioannou said in a statement that he had told the
airline he would not provide it with any new equity until it
terminates a 4.5 billion pound deal with Airbus. He said he
tried to change the company's stance by calling for the removal
of two of its directors.
Stelios, as he is better known, says that the 107 planes on
order are "useless", after the coronavirus pandemic brought air
travel to an almost standstill. The huge bill for the planes
puts easyJet's survival at stake, he said.
Airlines across the world are struggling to say afloat.
Whole fleets are now grounded, including easyJet's 344 planes,
due to travel restrictions and plunging demand over fears of
contagion.
Stelios said easyJet will run out of money by August and
said he would not help it financially until the Airbus order is
cancelled. He also said he wants easyJet to reduce its fleet
size to 250.
Britain has told its airlines to raise new money from
shareholders before it would consider helping them. While
easyJet is taking advantage of government help schemes for
businesses, it has not requested any specific state bailout.
INFLUENCE
Under UK company rules, Stelios's only way of influencing
management's behaviour is to call for a shareholder meeting to
vote for the removal of directors.
He plans to write to easyJet's chairman to call for two
directors to be removed, adding Chief Financial Officer Andrew
Findlay to an earlier call for the removal of Andreas Bierwirth.
"Terminating the Airbus contract is the only chance current
shareholders have to maintain any value in their shares,"
Stelios said in his statement.
Airbus has said the order from easyJet is firm, meaning
binding, while the airline said on Monday its focus was on
short-term liquidity to ensure its future.
"We believe that holding a general meeting would be an
unhelpful distraction from tackling the many immediate issues
our business faces," the company's spokeswoman said.
The Luton-based budget airline on Friday rejected Stelios's
first call for a general meeting to remove Bierwirth on what
Stelios's team called a technicality, but a meeting, held
electronically, will have to go ahead at some point, his
spokesman said.
"I fully expect easyJet to follow the stipulations of the
Companies Act 2006 and to call a meeting within a three week
period," said a spokesman for Haji-Ioannou.
The Haji-Ioannou family owns about a third of easyJet's
shares and Stelios has been a long-time critic of the airline's
expansion plans.
($1 = 0.82 pounds)
(Reporting by Sarah Young in London, additional reporting by
Juby Babu in Bengaluru; editing by Diane Craft and Angus
MacSwan)
