EasyJet - 4

[racedo]

MUFC at 38% you pretty much have a controlling shareholding as you will get a certain amount of institutional support simply because they don't wish to upset the applecart and also a certain number of private shareholders who will never bother to vote. At the level you can just vote down whoever you want.

Stelios is appointing his own people to the board and undermining existing directors who he disagrees with i.e. CFO who resigned earlier in the year because Stelios refused to support signing of annual accounts.

I think he is making an error as Easyjet was succesful because the timing was right not just because of him, he had a big part to play but EGO can over rule head with succesful people.

Looking at the track record since the Airline started up is there another success that can be claimed where he sold on for a big profit or a string of failed ventures, failed ventures are ok because entrepreneurs don't succeed at everything BUT continued sustained failures may question the judgement and make him require the cash.

If you let go then let go but keep coming back in forces people to wonder is it the management making decisions or the biggest shareholder and that provides uncertainty and financial markets hate uncertainty in any company.

[MUFC_fan]

At the level you can just vote down whoever you want.

So if he, as you say, basically has a controlling stake in the company - why can't he appoint and mix as he wishes?

It isn't his fault that people don't want to 'upset the apple cart' or can't be bothered to vote.

There is no-one on this forum, or anywhere for that matter of fact, allow an investment to go tits up. He has obviously made a calculated judgement less he wouldn't have made it public.

The board seem to disagree with him, yet the 'big one' - Southwest, seem to agree with the Greek. They have REDUCED their flying by 6% year on year:

"Southwest’s passenger traffic increased by about 5 percent during the third quarter versus 2008 totals, even as it reduced flying by 6 percent." (Southwest Airlines' strategy for growth is in the bag - Chicago Tribune)

Now the European and US markets are different, but for arguably the world's most successful carrier EVER to reduce capacity and for others to plough on for expansion is a bit naive.

Please not, before someone mentions the Ryanair policies, they are a carrier on their own. Although originally modelled on the Southwest model, they have gone to the extreme and for them, who's priorities lie on aiming for the holy grail - free flights.

easyJet are very much more like Southwest. They use some of the larger airports and have higher frequencies, arguably for the businessman and woman.

I personally think Stelios is correct in his stance for a more responsible growth strategy. The man has given his points:

"In an interview with the Guardian last year, Haji-Ioannou voiced fears that the company's finances, and the value of his shareholding, could be severely damaged by acquiring more than 100 aircraft during a passenger drought. "It is how do you pay, how do you finance 109 aircraft? You can't risk having to raise debt or equity in a deep recession," he said." (EasyJet entrepreneur Stelios wins boardroom battle after 'fed-up' chairman quits early | Business | The Guardian)

And some of the analysts agree:

"EasyJet says it is confident that it has enough debt and cash to pay for the expanded fleet, but some City commentators are openly supportive of his stance.

"I think he does have a point," said Douglas McNeill, analyst at Blue Oar Securities. "The Airbus contract carries with it the prospect of a mismatch between easyJet's capacity and passenger demand in the medium term. For Stelios and other shareholders the risk is that this causes the fixed costs to be spread across fewer passengers. And that puts profits under pressure."

Michels paid tribute to easyJet's founder. "He has very strong feelings but if you owned nearly 40% of the airline, you'd have strong feelings too." (Same source as above)

I don't know all the facts but from the outside, it looks like Stelios has very strong feelings for the future of the carrier and serious concerns about it's fleet expansion.

[racedo]

Stelios can appoint who ever he wants however as the bearded one showed when Virgin was a PLC there are strings attached in being a PLC and coming back in and effectively taking over while a minority shareholder has a cost.

The public way of getting rid of Easyjet board members and refusing to sign accounts undermines the professional management brought it to run the company.

This means the next set of management end up being Yes men who work to the whim of the largest shareholder than for the company as a whole and you ultimately end up undermining the whole company.

Entrepreneurs are like great football managers and players, when you leave a successful club you are best not returning to it as you may end up tarnishing the original reputation.

IF Stelios wants total control then let him take the company private and buy out the shareholders BUT in undermining the people actually running it you damage the company. At some point in time the other shareholders will decide that a single shareholding block has too much power and when that happens in a PLC you get a total block where decision paralyis takes hold.

[Seljuk22]

Just saw this
Easyjet opens new routes to Bordeaux (BOD),London (LGW),Bristol (BRS),Paphos (PFO),Tenerife (TFS),Mulhouse/Basel (BSL),Ajaccio (AJA),Nantes (NTE),Thessaloniki (SKG),Split (SPU),Kerkyra (CFU),Berlin-Schoenefeld (SXF),Doncaster Sheffield (DSA),Amsterda

[Nakata77]

Does this mean BOH base isnt going to happen in 2010?

There were rumours about a base at BOH

BOH has so much more to offer than DSA does in terms of wealth of the region, inbound demand, less competition than airports in the north, better performing routes (AMS and PRG did better than DSA when TFly operated them)

So ... when is it BOH's turn? Or is easyJet just plain hacked off with MAGgroup right now?

[mybrico]

Tatics with MAG - pressure for low costs at the big one

[EuroChallenger]

EasyJet

2 x seats to Palma and return from doncaster, total cost £181.28

Jet2 from Leeds to Palma was £362.90 before payment fees. No prizes for guessing where a loyal Jet2 customer has gone.

Edit - outward DSA - PMI 11/09/10 and return 25/09/10 - same dates used ex Leeds with Jet2.

[MUFC_fan]

So ... when is it BOH's turn? Or is easyJet just plain hacked off with MAGgroup right now?

BOH may NEVER feature in the plans of U2 - we shall see.

MAG (the 'G' stands for group btw), although EMA may not be their cup of tea, but MAN is doing well for U2.

[loveJet]

BOH is already on the U2 schedules

U2 operate the 8 weekly Geneva service this winter in place of the easyJet Switzerland aircraft previously.

[Seljuk22]

FCO-BRI last flight 21st February

A new A320 arrived at Geneva today. There are 9 a/c at GVA now and 10 from June with Faro, Brindisi and Heraklion as new destinations.
EasyJet base un neuvième appareil à Genève | Tribune de Genève

[toledoashley]

There seems to be a number of new routes available on the ezy system - although not directly available from the front page including:

Stansted - Dalaman
Stansted - Dubrovnik
Stansted - Bodrum
Stansted - Spilt
Bristol - Dalaman
Bristol - Bodrum
Liverpool - Bodrum

[MUFC_fan]

Having seen the mix of destinations from U2 at LPL and MAN, it seems they really are making using no syncing policies - they seem to simply be putting routes anywhere from each base.

[Seljuk22]

I think there will be an announcement soon.
New 'summer routes' from MXP (MAH), FCO (MLA, NCE) and GVA (BDS, FAO, HER), too.

Edit:

CDG: must be 1 new a/c from 28th March and another one from May

ORY-VCE double daily from 28th March (CDG-VCE from double daily down to daily)
CDG-TLS double daily from 28th March (Nightstop in TLS)
CDG-PRG daily from 28th March

PRG-AMS daily from 14th May (op. by CDG based a/c)
CDG-AGP daily from 14th May
CDG-OPO from daily to 12 weekly + CDG-LIS from 9 weekly to 11 weekly > additional 7 weekly flights
CDG-PMI from 10th July to 29th August

[nef]

With the demise of GSM there would seem to be a natural opportunity for expansion by EZY at GLA and EDI, but they seem to have been lukewarm on Scottish airports for a while. It would be odd nevertheless for EZY to sit back and let FR and the charter carriers grab all the pax.

[Silvertop]

It would be odd nevertheless for EZY to sit back and let FR and the charter carriers grab all the pax.

Odd yes and I'm afraid typical

[toledoashley]

I would expect EZY to look at GLA rather than EDI as FR has made a resonable impression there. If they do look to expand, expect the longer routes like the Canaries, Egypt, Cyprus, Turkey and Egypt.

[Thad Jarvis]

small problem with that - no spare 320's

[MUFC_fan]

small problem with that - no spare 320's

The range of the A319 is greater than that of the A320.

However, they prefer to fly more passengers over the greater distances. More revenue and certainly higher on board sales.

[Ian Brooks]

I was under the impression the Easyjet had longer range on their A320 than A319


Ian B

[MUFC_fan]

I was under the impression the Easyjet had longer range on their A320 than A319

To be honest, I am not sure. I know that a standard A319 has further range than an A320 but both aircraft are operational on Egyptian flights so obviously within range of both machines.

I do not know the range of the A319 as it does have an extra number of seats which U2 had fitted along with two extra emergency exits.