Commenting on recent media coverage of easyJet and the Covid-19 emergency, the airline’s founder and biggest shareholder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou said:

“All recent newspaper reporting of easyJet’s current cash flow problem misses an important point. By far and away the largest threat to the airline’s future viability is the £1.35n capex payment to Airbus in the current financial year (2020) with another £1bn per year for each of the next three years. (Please see attached slides from company’s FY analyst presentation).

“It needs to be remembered that I (Sir Stelios) have (s) been a long-term and consistent critic of the policy of growth in aircraft numbers. For the company to survive it needs to cancel the current contract with Airbus (citing force majeure) and aim to run an easyJet fleet of 250 aircraft (rather than the current 350) with associated reduction in crewing numbers.”