easyJet Will Not Change Name in Row with Sir Stelios

There has been some worry in the last few days that easyJet may take the “easy” out of its name, but the airline is saying that this won’t happen. A spokesman for he budget carrier said, however, that the company needs to prepare for all eventualities.

This comes as easyJet is rowing with founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, who resigned from the board last week in an attempt to lead a rebellion among shareholders. However, this attempt was dealt a blow when Standard Life Investments, an investor that holds 9% of easyJet shares, said they would not support him.

Haji-Ioannou has greatly criticized the pursued commercial strategy by the airline, saying they are following the wrong one. The founder is accusing the company of hurting profits by expanding too fast and says they have been taking attention away from the company’s core activity during the last few months, moving away from the terms of the brand licensing agreement. The dispute is set to be heard in court on June 8.

As far as the issue goes with the airline changing its name, some believe that Haji-Ioannou, as a major shareholder, will hurt himself by getting rid of the “easy” part of the name. It’s said that the value of easyJet would drop if the name was changed, and the Haji-Ioannou family owns 38% of the company’s shares. However, despite the announcement of there being no name change, since Haji-Ioannou’s exit, shares in easyJet have fallen almost 6% on fears of the group being destabilized because of the row.