Easyjet CEO announces resignation

[Finman]

Ray Webster has announced his decision to leave easyJet. Should improve the share value!:D

[Jordan D]

Full story now available (as ever) from BBC News Online (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4551937.stm)

Jordan

[worldwidewolly]

maybe he has been tapped to take over at ryanair when MOL falls on his sword.

[orangetree]

Hurrah!! morale must be up 30% already!:D

[PAXboy]

when MOL falls on his sword The one certainty about MoL, is that he will onl yleave by being thrown out. He will never resign. That is not 'good' or 'bad', simply as I see it.

[Capt.Paul Skinback]

Probably going somewhere that offers decent staff travel...........

[Few Cloudy]

Stelios. If he really is rumoured to be coming back I would expect his usual hands on approach.

Don´t forget he didn´t make easyJet a lean profitable airline by being overly generous but he was more approachable than Ray and that helps a lot.

[oscarh]

Few Cloudy
If you read the report, you would have noticed that it was announced that he is joining the board as a NON EXECUTIVE Director. He isn´t "rumoured to be coming back"!
Non-executive to most of us and certainly to the City, means he will not/cannot be "hands on", as you put it, be that good or bad.
My question was, do the two events have a common denominator?

[Few Cloudy]

Osarh - no I hadn´t read the report - nevertheless anyone who has been around Stelios, knows he doesn´t sit in on meetings without exerting a lot of influence.

easyJet usually make a pretty frank report in their annual shareholders´statement so maybe any connection between the two events will be seen there.

[In Tiffanys trousers]

Question is who will the replacement be ?... The devil we know might be appropriate here. And in the meantime I wonder just how much worse it will get with Woeful Winter and Sucker Scuz's running the show.

[Bengerman]

I understand the new CEO is to be Mike Street, ex BA:O :O :O :O

[flap15]

I have not heared any names mentioned but I wonder what Barbara is doing these days?

[Bokkenrijder]

Barely any movement in EZY share price so ´The City´ does not seem to be too sad about RW´s departure either! ;)

[The Greaser]

Surprised the share price hasn't shot up.

[10002level]

The only negative aspect of Webster's rule of easyJet is that he ever joined the company in the first place. Good riddance and hopefully he will never be heard of again.

[Bokkenrijder]

Let´s first wait and see who the new CEO will be!

[Stelios]

I reckon - Rod Eddington is just about free.

[Finman]

Leo Hairy Camel will likely need a new job soon!

[AIRWAY]

Stelios returning... Part-Time only...

[Finman]

Amazingly, people are buying shares in easyJet at the moment. Must be good news for the City with a share price boost imminent!

[no sig]

To those that would slag RDW, just remember despite his faults, easyJet is where it is today by in large as a result of his stewardship, and there isn't anyone else in the Company who has worked any harder to get it there, so credit where credit is due. His retirement shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, he's done his bit.

[jetjockey737]

surely anybody has got to be better than that man!! Have spoken to a few people about this and they are all quite excited about the prospect of him leaving. Whoever it is cant have any less respect for pilots and cabin crew!!!

[Finman]

Whoever it is cant have any less respect for pilots and cabin crew!!!

er....Leo Hairy Camel for a start!

[girtbar]

do you think we could start a petition to ask Barbara to put her name forward??!!
;)

<--GirtBar-->

[The Greaser]

Maybe he'd got fed up with the staff travel and took his own infamous advice.

[Bokkenrijder]

do you think we could start a petition to ask Barbara to put her name forward??!! Good idea!!!

[PropellerPaul]

I think Babara Cassani would make a fantastic CEO. She was offered a job alongside RW when the merger with 'GoFly' happened, perhaps now is a good time to 'woo' her back.. Remember, the future's bright, the future's orange! :ok:

[Doug the Head]

As a testamony to Ray´s ´wonderfull job,´ after only + - 20 months in easyJet I´m already looking for a new job, however I heard many good stories from STN flight + cabin crew about Barbara Cassani.

Let´s hope she will accept this challenge and turn easyJet into a truely fun company that makes heaps of money for all employees!

GO BARBARA!! :ok:

[oscarh]

Me too!
I´ve had one benign post deleted and one edited.
Reading between the lines, it seems that someone (a mod?)doesn´t like a reference to a well used St****s type nickname. Meant in the nicest possible and really loving way of course.

[Little Friend]

For God sake Ray are you sure...

you know if you leave you won't be able to rejoin-and if you don't work for easy who else is there?

Remember no matter how many disciples one has; Judus always writes the reference letters.

[RAT 5]

"To those that would slag RDW, just remember despite his faults, easyJet is where it is today by in large as a result of his stewardship, and there isn't anyone else in the Company who has worked any harder to get it there, so credit where credit is due. His retirement shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, he's done his bit."

I suspect this is intended as a compliment. However, there are those on the other side of the fence who would totally agree, but from a negative point of view. EJ is indeed where it is today because of RW. It could have been so much better. Under his stewardship moral was the worst I've heard about and there were several significant senior operations management resignations. That is a strange happening if the advertisement propoganda was all true, and ej was indeed the place to be. Many worthy and highly talented personnel decided enough was enough and went to work their trade in a more adult enviroment.

[Capt.Paul Skinback]

I hope this doesn't become a bring BC back thread( modified as my previous reply has been deleted-so much for free speech).

As a company we need to look forward not back. One of the first things to be looked at is morale. Hundreds of cabin crew leaving and definitely more than the 10% loss of pilot workforce deemed acceptable per year by management. 500hrs A319,tada!
Morale starts from the top and for all the +'s RW may have brought to the table,morale's not one of them.

[MonarchA330]

Hi everyone,
Just a little question from an outsider, don't want to divert the thread...

I'm about to start on the CTC Wings scheme and hopefully join easyJet at the end of it. With the departure of RW, it seems from these posts that this was a good thing for the company.. why so?
Thank you
M330

[noflare]

:confused:

Why on earth would Barbara want to come back and pick up the mess RW has left ?.
She did an excellent job at GO starting from a blank sheet of paper and doing it her way. She should have been given the reigns at the time of the merger...she sure as hell wont come in now and really do you blame her.

Good luck to whoever gets it, it can only be better for the crews.

[FlapsOne]

Let's see if this post gets deleted as well!!

noflare
What 'mess' has RW left exactly??

......and it wasn't a merger.......it was a buy out!

[Shaka Zulu]

what mess are we talking about?
ezy is changing shape and restructuring constantly plus having to make capacity for another 100 aircraft arriving.
granted some issues could have been easily resolved with some more goodwill from higher up (fact) but at the moment we are not going too bad at all.
rather have ezy than fr (nothing personal chaps, this is upper management comparison)

[Avro Arrow]

Over the last 10 years it is fair to say that eJ has been a very successful company. Whether morale has been good, bad or indifferent, the facts do speak for themselves...RW did start with Stelios and a blank sheet of paper, now its 100ac, 100m (total since start) pax, a number of European bases, profitable and cash rich.

I think people look back at the "Go-fly years" through rose coloured specs. BC did have a blank piece of paper but had the backing of one of the world's most successful carriers - BA.

Many mistakes were made along the way and the whole thing wasn't all plain sailing...remember DUB-EDI?

What Cassani and Co did was make a shed load of money from the transaction and good luck to them. However, I was never impressed by the "wake up and smell the coffee" routine which seemed to be the Go mantra at the time.

What eJ and FR have done is demonstrate that you can start small and with a vision and dedicated (and sometimes ruthless) management make some money in this industry where many have failed.

A lot in business is about being in the right place at the right time, looks like Ray's time has come and I for one (although I don't fly for him) would wish him well in retirement.

As someone said in an earlier post look forward not back, if BC is to be the new boss and tries to re-create GO-easy, then this time the dynamics and the market could deliver a market failure. 5 years ago the majors were still stunned from the low cost phenomenon and then 911 in 2001, now they are fighting back. Who would have thought that BA or BMI would be offering £29 one-way fares ex-LHR then.

I'm afraid it's all about the cost base and that's is something that eJ can't afford to allow to grow as the industry yields have continued to soften.

Good luck to whoever gets the job ...it's going to be tough.

AA

[Doug the Head]

Very good post AA.

I agree with most of what you said, but I think you underestimate the importance of morale, especially for an airline that likes to model itself to Southwest Airlines.

RW is maybe a very good accountant (like MOL) but he also lacks human/CRM skills.

We all know from our training that when the going gets tough, CRM a very important factor in solving problems and weathering the storm.

The way I see things, EZY has had a relatively easy ride so far with mild competition as EZY was a pioneer in Europe´s low cost arena, but times have changed, competition has caught up and morale is very low in a lot of bases.

When most of the fat is cut it´s morale that keeps a group/company/team together and what you will see is that lot´s of flight/cabin crew (incl. me) are bailing out, looking for greener grass.

What EZY needs is someone with a real vision and communicative skills to lead the way, not some crunching number Kiwi accountant, treating everyone like sh!t... That´s why I believe BC would be a great boost for EZY if she would decide to join.

It´s a big mistake to automatically think that any improvement in T & C´s will automatically increase costs and hurt profitability. If you don´t believe me, look at Southwest Airlines in the USA, they´ve been very profitable for almost 25 years by putting the employee and not the shareholders first!

Stelios has the vision and Ray has the accountant skills. What EZY now needs at the top level is someone who sees the big picture and holds it all together!

[You Gimboid]

Stelios is back on the board, Webster is on the way out - perhaps now is the time to get the "heart" back into easyJet.

Many old-timers will tell you that it was the fun style of easyJet that made it a good place to work, but under Web's po-faced, mean-spirited leadership it has become another faceless corporate bureaucracy run for the benefit of the board and shareholders but few others (including passengers).

I sincerely hope the good times will roll back into easyJet - and I wonder if it is too much to hope for a proper staff travel system and respectable uniforms for the cabin crew at last?? ;)

[Flying Quill]

Ray Webster was running the company in the good old days when it was a fun place to work and morale was high. The thing that changed was the market positioning of the company.

It long ago ceased to be the new snotty nosed kid on the block. And although its outward image is still cheap and tacky, the company has an infrastructure and operational integrity which would embarrass most airlines. Unfortunately, and this is the root of many of the problems in the company, there are too many inexperienced people in key positions; people who are unable to operate at the level that the company has found itself, or who have been unable to develop at the same rate as the company.

However, given the rate of expansion, the number of new entrants each month over the last 10 years, the frequent - and successfull - additions to the network, the base expansions, the rapid conversion of various bases to a completely different aircraft type with minimal commercial disruption, and the sustained delivery rate of new aircraft over these last ten years, the company has still managed to maintain the highest of training and operational standards. It also continues to rake in money, is one of the most secure airlines in the World, and there are few dark clouds forecast to spoil the parade. This is an extremely commendable achievement. Now, if you feel this would have happened under someone else's leadership, then you are entitled to believe so. But it didn't happen under someone else, it happened under RW.

I would be interested to hear a sound argument from anyone detailing how they feel the company would have been even more successful under someone else; his successor would do well to hear it too.

I refer you back to my opening premis: RW has run the company from the beginning. The early days - glory days for some - represented the spirit of a hughly different company, a company that may never have survived the fight back had it tried to cling to, and rely on, the fresh face charm of its youth.

FQ

[Norman Stanley Fletcher]

Flying Quill - an excellent post and one of the few that shows any real grasp of the situation. As I read some of the comments here you could be forgiven for believing that easyJet is a terrible place to work. There are many pilots who really enjoy working here and I am one of them! I have had the benefit of working for several airlines and easyJet is no worse than any of them and better than most. But we digress....

As has been pointed out by a number of people, easyJet no longer enjoys the 'novelty' factor it once did and is now in a hard-rules fight with the big boys. BA are in the fortunate positon of being able to run their short haul operation at a huge loss and paying for it by their profit-making long haul routes. The short haul-only companies have to make profits on that operation alone and therefore have their backs much more against the wall. Despite negative posts here about accountants and so on, I recognise there is a clear need for accountants like Ray Webster to deal with fiscal issues in a professional manner and make sure that ultimately money in exceeds money out. I therefore do not knock him on that basis.

My struggle with him is that he has consistently put his foot in it with City investors. While O'Leary has managed to make the City think that Ryanair is the real deal (despite carrying less passengers and having less aircraft than easyJet) old Ray somehow has made easyJet appear as a financial liability. We have consistently make a profit in the toughest market conditions and yet we have failed to capitalise on that with the right people. For example, when the company announced a load of new routes, the thing that hit the news was a profits warning that turned out to be completely untrue. In the final analysis it will not be RW's lack of charisma or the fact that he never meets any of his crews at different bases etc that has seen him off. It is simply that he has failed to impress the big City investors to the required extent. The next guy (or gal!) in had better be sharp in that department or they will be gone pretty quickly. All very pleasant as it will be to have someone with a nice smile who can press the flesh and introduce the 'feel good factor', the number one requirement is that they do not say stupid things at the wrong time which causes ructions with the share price. They must be able to deal with the City and make financial institutions see that easyJet are here to stay and represent the very best in short haul operations.

[In Tiffanys trousers]

Quill

Excellent post. Must agree 100%, well said

My concern is what happens in the interim period. RW has done a good job. He did that using his long experience in aviation generally, and the experience of 10 years running eJ as a succesful low cost operator in the european market place.

I don't see to many individuals with that kind of experience / expertise leaping out of the woodwork to replace him. So what happens in interim period as whoever the new person ends up being, "learns the trade". The group of "managers" you correctly identify have massive potential for cockup's.

[Shaka Zulu]

Thanks guys, that was exactly what i was getting at in my little short post. Couldn't have explained it better myself.
The interim period is not going to be much of a problem as such, the big problem arises when the new CEO has to familiarise themselves with the thousand and one changes that are happening all the time. (guess that is what they get paid the big kahuna's for)
All CEO's like to make their own personal mark on a company and as an employee I'm really looking forward to (maybe in a couple of years disgust ;)) seeing what is going to happen.
One thing for sure, I haven't felt this kind of job security in a long long time! So for that I thank RW and his team (would be follish to think it was him alone) and as said over the years I have seen how big an impact the 24hrs a day had on Ray.
Believe me the man was breathing orange.

However I would have liked to see Upper Management (note: not only RW) take more notice of their employees and at least start moving towards a better career airline. At the moment it isn't, even I agree.... With a couple of tweaks mainly for the better of the employee this will be a very very nice company to work for!

[panda-k-bear]

Reading some of the replies here, one seriously wonders whether certain members shouldn't just quit their jobs flying for easyJet and go join a flying club - after all, it's only fun that they seem to want.

1) easyJet is successful - FACT!
2) easyJet has pretty much always been successful - FACT!
3) easyJet has effectively been lead by Ray since the very early days - FACT!
4) Without him, it would almost certainly not be where it is today - it would almost certainly be a lesser airline - FACT? Well, no, SPECULATION! But probably true nontheless.

I find myself generally agrreing with NSF except for the last point - the number one priority for Ray was to run a successful airline. Something he did in spades (continued 20% or more growth!) The strategy is sound, the airline is fun to fly with, relatively reliable and keeps food in it's employee's mouths. For goodness sakes, you lot seem to be after the perks (concessionary travel schemes et al) that are a part of the legacy airlines. If you want all of that jazz, go and work for a legacy airline - see how much fun that is these days!

Some people just don't know a good thing when they see it.

[Sagittarius Rising]

Spot on NSF.

As a company that can't now do anything without the permission of the City, RW completely lost their confidence. With his tales of doom and gloom we ended up with a share price £1.18 and a minimal market worth. We were lucky not to have been taken over.

The new CEO is going to have to be a darling of the city and BC's fiasco and resignation over the Olympic bid hardly holds her in good stead.

Mind you, I see the new BA boss has come up with a great new concept-a low cost short haul operation X-LHR and removing First Class from the Paris flights. Inspired.

[Flying Quill]

Yes, Fletch, you're right about the lack of confidence in the City. In support of your point I offer the powerpoint presentation last year which was supposed to placate the concerns of the City by unveiling the radical new plan. Well, it was amateurish and childish; I felt embarrassed watching it.

But this is the attitude I was alluding to in my earlier post: the company is trying to to cling to its fun, quirky culture, but with the lack of experience, it simply doesn't work. I don't need to support my assertion with examples; those who work here should be able to think of some for themselves. The spotty nosed kid has now become a strapping teenager; big and strong, but bereft of the wisdom and experience of maturity. It's sitting at the back of the classroom, one of the bigger children, still trying to crack the jokes that made it so cute in primary school. But it's just not appropriate any more.

There are many impressive achievements that can be credited to RW and his team - and some failures. However, the next CEO needs to build on the success thus far and take the company to the next level. I don't care who this person is. I don't care if he or she dislikes pilots. I don't care if the the new CEO is from Mars. But I desperately hope that whoever - or whatever - it is steers this fledgling into maturity.

FQ

[Norman Stanley Fletcher]

Panda-k-Bear: I would beg to differ on the issue of the number one priority. You can have the most 'successful' company in the world but if the City does not think you are cracking it then you are stuffed! easyJet, as you rightly point out is 'successful' by any criteria. They problem is that we have managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by making the City think we are not! As I have said previously, you cannot criticise RW for being an accountant or having a handle on the finances. What you can say is that at critical moments the City got nervous with us when much higher confidence in the company was warranted. Ultimately that is a management failure and it is a situation that must change if we are to fulfil the huge potential we have as a company.

[Finman]

Perhaps the wonderful RW decision to run a dual fleet in a low cost model had just a little to do with the City's lack of confidence in his management!

[Stan Woolley]

A moron could have run easyjet for the first few years-Stelios' money and the basic business model was bound to make it a success. Now it needs to be sharp Webster isn't up to it.

I personally know five TRE's alone that have gone or are going and a dispatcher I met the other day said he has never seen such a turnover of staff and he's been at easy nearly from the beginning.

Maybe somebody eventually worked out what all that costs and who caused it? :rolleyes:

[Silvertop]

Panda K Bear

"easyJet has effectively been lead by Ray since the very early days - FACT!"

The fact is that Mr Webster has been an effective accountant, and a computer visionary since the very early days of E. J. . But an "effective leader", never, to effectively lead people takes much much more than having a good plan, being good at sums,and being very I.T. savvy.

[Finman]

being good at sums

From what I remember, he wasn't particularly good at that either. How many millions were wasted having HUDs fitted before they 'did the sums' and worked out they would never be used!

[Shaka Zulu]

Finman you obviously don't know what you are talking about since the HUD's were a decision made by our last Chief Pilot M.K.
We had confirmation of the CAA that we wouldn't have to do ****loads of trialling and testing before we could use it, eventually that got turned back, and the cost involved making us eligible to use it was far greater than expected.
Indeed a good c*** up but not RW's fault. (ex fighter pilot's decision)


Our new CEO better be good and well known and respected by the City, I bet we can see the shares fly to FL410 :)

[CaptJ]

The "confidence in the city " thing has been, and continues to be, grossly overstated. Perhaps some room for improvement but the figures were always presented honestly and without spin.
Now I'm an easyJet shareholder and I can tell you that the totally undeserved drops in share prices were due to hedge-fund manipulation. A lot of people made a lot of money during that campaign, I even made a few quid myself.
Now that the hedge-funds have moved on to other targets, the share price has stabilised. Creeping up nicely despite continuing concerns over fuel prices.
The lack of impact on the share price of Ray's departure signifies that the city thinks that the airline has a stable an competent board in place to guide the succession.

Lets hope they get a good replacement.

[jumpseater]

Interim results for the 6 months to 31st March 2005

25% INCREASE IN PASSENGERS. MARGINS MAINTAINED.

Revenues up by 26% to £553m with the pre-tax margin before goodwill maintained.

Seasonal pre-tax loss before goodwill of £22m (2004: £19m). Reported pre-tax loss of £31m (2004: £27m).

Passenger numbers up 25% to 13.5 m. Slight improvement in load factor to 83.8%.

Total revenue per passenger up 1.1%. Per Available Seat Kilometre (ASK) down 5% reflecting longer stage length.
Total cost per ASK down 5%.
Strong cash generation with gross cash increasing by £127m to £637m.
Balanced growth in network to 187 routes and 57 airports utilising 103 aircraft.

Commenting on the results and prospects, Ray Webster, Chief Executive, said:

“This performance is in line with expectations. Much has been achieved in the last six months - growing passengers by a quarter, launching 40 new routes and inaugurating service to 14 new airports. We have just taken delivery of our 100th operational aircraft and welcomed our 100 millionth passenger. Both are major achievements in our 10th anniversary year.

“We have made steady progress on costs and, so far, mitigated the impact of a higher fuel price. But there is more to do as we seek balanced growth, extending our reach in Europe while protecting our margins. easyJet is a financially strong company and is in a good position to capitalise on the opportunities in the European airline market.

“Based on our current trading outlook, total revenue per seat for the year to September 2005 is likely to be unchanged compared to the same period last year.

“At prevailing fuel prices and exchanges rates, we continue to expect reported pre-tax profit to be below last year but in line with current expectations

[In trim]

I agree with no sig that easyJet would probably not be here today had it not been for RDW's stewardship. He has been instrumental in building a very successful company. To quote no sig, "credit where credit's due...."

HOWEVER (before you all shoot me!!), whilst I believed the first 7 years or so were generally very positive, I have serious doubts about some of the decisions taken in the past couple of years. The constant re-structures, the loss of support in key areas, etc. I really believe that much of the current structure simply is not sustainable in the long-term, particularly for a fleet of 100+ with multiple bases across an expanding Europe.

I also agree that morale and that great orange value of "people" has been forgotten along the way.

As a relatively young, exciting start-up carrier people didn't mind working their nuts off because it was a good place to work. That has (to a large extent) gone now, and you can't rely on goodwill forever.