The story
Founded by Stelios Haji-Ioannou in 1995, in London.1
Origins and formation
EasyJet has its roots in the business activity of Greek-Cypriot Stelios Haji-Ioannou, who reportedly gained an interest in the aviation business after being approached as a potential investor in Virgin Atlantic's Greek franchisee. Recognising a vacant niche in the market, Stelios decided to examine the prospects for launching his airline, having secured a commitment of a £5 million loan from his father. While studying various business models in the industry, Stelios took a significant interest in the American operator Southwest Airlines, which had successfully adopted the practice of price elasticity to be competitive with traditionally cheaper buses and attract customers that would not normally have considered air travel. This principle became a cornerstone of EasyJet's operations.
In 1995, EasyJet was established by Stelios, being the first company in what would later become the EasyGroup conglomerate. Upon launch, it employed just 70 people; the company is based at London Luton Airport, which was traditionally used only by charter flights. To encourage the company, Luton Airport chose to give EasyJet free use of a 15,000-square-foot (1,400-square-metre) building for its headquarters, which it named EasyLand; its management style typified minimal overhead, such as an early implementation of the paperless office concept. EasyJet initially operated a pair of wet leased Boeing 737-200 aircraft, capable of seating 130 passengers. These were flown on two routes: Luton to Glasgow International Airport and Edinburgh Airport. Early on, EasyJet operated as a paper airline, the aircraft themselves being flown and maintained under a lease.
Early promotional activity focused on the airline's relatively low pricing compared to incumbent operators. Within its first year, EasyJet reportedly carried approximately 40,000 passengers.
In April 1996, the first wholly owned aircraft was delivered to EasyJet, enabling the company's first international route, to Amsterdam, which was operated in direct competition with rival airlines British Airways (BA) and Dutch flag carrier KLM. Competitors responded to the emerging EasyJet in different ways; while BA was largely indifferent, KLM allegedly chose to respond with a predatory pricing strategy that led to an investigation by the European Union over unfair competitive practices. Despite commercial pressure from the emergent no-frills sector, traditional airlines have been unable to directly adopt similar practices to EasyJet due to vigorous protection of existing employee privileges by unions.
EasyJet's aircraft were initially operated by GB Airways from November 1995 until July 1996 and subsequently by Air Foyle HeavyLift until October 1997, as EasyJet had not yet received its air operator's Certificate.
Flotation
On 5 November 2000, EasyJet was floated on the London Stock Exchange. In October 2004, the FL Group (now named Stodir), owner of the Icelandair and Sterling Airlines airlines, purchased an 8.4% stake in the airline. Over the course of 2005, FL increased its share in the company periodically to 16.9%, fuelling speculation that it would mount a takeover bid for the UK carrier. However, in April 2006, the threat of takeover receded as FL sold its stake for €325 million, securing a profit of €140 million on its investment.
In March 2013, EasyJet was promoted to the FTSE 100; during the same month, the company launched its 100th route from London Gatwick Airport, offering flights directly from London to Moscow. By 2015, the company was flying routes to more than 130 destinations in 31 countries, operated 26 bases centred around Europe, and had a total of 10,000 employees.
Expansion and acquisitions
In March 1998, EasyJet purchased a 40% stake in Swiss charter airline TEA Basle for 3 million Swiss francs. The airline was renamed EasyJet Switzerland and commenced franchise services on 1 April 1999, having relocated its headquarters to Geneva Airport. Geneva was EasyJet's first new base outside the United Kingdom.
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In 2002, rival airline Go Fly was purchased for £374 million; EasyJet inherited three new bases from Go, at Bristol Airport, East Midlands Airport and London Stansted Airport. The acquisition of Go almost doubled the number of Boeing 737-300 aircraft in the EasyJet fleet. In 2002, the airline opened its base at Gatwick Airport. Between 2003 and 2007, it opened additional bases in Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, establishing a presence in continental Europe. By 2007, EasyJet was claiming to be operating more flights per day than any other European airline.
On 25 October 2007, EasyJet purchased the entire share capital of GB Airways from the Bland Group. This acquisition was valued at £103.5 million, and was used by the airline to expand its operations at Gatwick, and to establish a base at Manchester Airport.
In June 2011, the airline opened its eleventh British base – at London Southend Airport, offering flights to Alicante, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Belfast, Faro, Málaga, Jersey, Palma de Mallorca and Ibiza. In July 2017, EasyJet announced it would open a new European headquarters in Austria to enable it to operate after Brexit.
On 28 October 2017, EasyJet announced it would lease 25 former Air Berlin A320 aircraft to operate across EasyJet Europe's network, under its European AOC. Several of these aircraft were based at Berlin-Tegel Airport, before its closure. These aircraft have subsequently been transferred to Berlin-Brandenburg Airport. Previously EasyJet had only operated from Berlin-Schönefeld Airport and Berlin-Tegel Airport, where EasyJet had taken over some of Air Berlin's old services.
On 30 March 2020, EasyJet suspended all flights, grounded its entire fleet, and furloughed its crews due to travel restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This came after the company had flown 650 "rescue flights", taking 45,000 people back home. In April 2020, EasyJet secured a £600 million loan from the UK Government. In June 2020, EasyJet announced its intention to resume flights, flying half of its routes in July 2020 and up to 75 per cent in August 2020, though with reduced frequency.
In April 2020, EasyJet became involved in a dispute with its owner and largest shareholder, Stelios Haji-Ioannou. Haji-Ioannou criticised the airline's decision not to seek to cancel the outstanding Airbus order, claiming it would create an additional £4.5 billion of capital which the airline could not afford to spend. He threatened to call a general meeting to remove a director every three weeks unless subsequent action was taken. A general meeting was held on 22 May, where shareholders ultimately voted over 99% in favour of the EasyJet board and retaining the Airbus contract.
On 19 May 2020, the company revealed that it had been the subject of a cyber-attack resulting in the release of the personal information of 9 million customers. On 10 September 2021, the company claimed it had rejected a takeover bid from rival Wizz Air. On 30 September 2021, Stelios Haji-Ioannou and his family lost control of the company, after failing to take up the rights issue and being diluted. Their stake was reduced from 25.3% to 15.27% as of 30 September 2021.
Proposed takeover by Apollo
On 1 June 2026, amid rising jet fuel prices contributed by the 2026 Iran war, it was reported that the US investment firm Castlelake was considering a takeover of the airline. Castlelake had until 26 June to make a firm offer or withdraw from the acquisition. On 4 June it was reported that Castlelake was considering shipping company MSC Group as a partner in a consortium for the takeover.
On 6 July 2026, it was reported that EasyJet had agreed in principle to a £5.5 billion takeover bid from Castlelake. On 10 July it was announced that EasyJet had accepted an alternate proposal from Apollo Global Management, valuing the business at approximately £5.7 billion, or 715p per share — an 81% premium to the closing share price on 28 May 2026, the day before Castlelake's interest was first made public. The EasyJet board said it was "no longer minded to recommend" Castlelake's proposal in light of Apollo's higher offer.
On 3 August 2026, EasyJet requested that the UK Panel on Takeovers and Mergers align the "put up or shut up" deadlines for both bidders to 5:00pm on 7 August 2026, by which point each firm was required under Rule 2.6 of the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers to either announce a firm intention to make an offer or confirm it did not intend to bid.
On 6 August 2026, Castlelake announced under Rule 2.8 of the Code that it did not intend to make an offer for EasyJet, ending its pursuit of the airline. The statement restricts Castlelake, and parties acting in concert with it, from making a new offer for six months, except in limited circumstances such as agreement from the EasyJet board or a competing bid.
Later that day, Apollo announced a firm intention to make an offer under Rule 2.7 of the Code, ahead of its 7 August deadline. The offer is being made through Eagle Bidco Ltd, a company indirectly owned by Apollo funds, and is structured as a recommended cash acquisition to be implemented by means of a scheme of arrangement under Part 26 of the Companies Act 2006. The cash offer values EasyJet's entire issued and to-be-issued ordinary share capital at approximately £5.7 billion, representing a premium of 81% to the closing share price on the last undisturbed trading day and 22% to the highest closing price in the previous four years. Shareholders were also offered the option to elect for an alternative "rollover" structure, receiving one share in an indirect parent undertaking of Bidco for each easyJet share held, in place of cash.
The EasyJet board unanimously recommended the offer to shareholders. The transaction remains subject to customary conditions, including regulatory approvals, and is expected to complete by the end of the first calendar quarter of 2027.
From Wikipedia’s article on EasyJet, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5