LTN man
21st Jan 2002, 22:46
THE former boss of Luton Airport is suing his ex-employer in a dispute over a £2m bonus. Graham Roberts, who clashed with easyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou in a bitter row over landing charges at Luton, lost his job as chief executive last year when the airport was bought by quoted operator TBI. . .Roberts claims there was a change of control when the airport was sold and that he is entitled to a share of the £82m Barclays received for selling its controlling stake. . .In a High Court writ, Roberts reveals that he has already cashed a cheque for £1.1m from the company, but insists the payment was accepted without prejudicing his claims to a total bonus of £2.1m. TBI, which also owns Cardiff and Belfast airports, contests Roberts' claims. . .Barclays sold out after a protracted campaign by Haji-Ioannou, whose low-cost airline is based at Luton and accounts for two-thirds of the airport's total traffic. . .He eventually accepted a near-quadrupling in landing charges. The extra costs are described as a 'Barclays fatcat tax' on easyJet tickets. But the new regime is expected to turn loss-making Luton into profit this year. . .Roberts, who was in the Luton job for only 10 months, has just started as chief executive of Powell Duffryn Ports and Shipping, a management buyout backed by the venture capital arm of Japanese investment bank Nikko. . .TBI later accepted a hostile £517m bid from Vinci, but the French construction group withdrew after 11 September.