Clearly, the airline is vastly different from the one that Sir Mike inherited when he joined the board in the summer of 2009 – becoming chairman six months later, on January 1, 2010.
The company’s fortunes are vastly improved, its marketing is more finessed, and it now has a business offering which is seemingly popular.
What is more, customers are now assigned seats – either through paying to select a specific seat or randomly by the airline – thereby ending that unseemly airport gate free-for-all.
Most importantly, rather than being a low-cost carrier, the airline is now seen by customers as a functional airline that takes them where they want to fly to.
No wonder, then, that under Sir Mike and chief executive Carolyn McCall’s stewardship the airline has re-entered the FTSE 100 index, with a market capitalisation – as of close of trading on Thursday night – of £4.24bn
Sources suggest that the most likely candidate is Charles Gurassa, the current deputy chairman. External contenders include Sir John Rose, the former chief executive of Rolls-Royce.
Whoever succeeds will not have an easy ride, not least given the rocky time Sir Mike has had with that other easyJet knight of the realm – Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the airline’s founder who, with his family, controls a 36.9pc stake.
At the airline’s annual meeting last month, Sir Mike pressed for peace with Sir Stelios, impressing the need for harmony given its entry into the FTSE 100.
Sir Mike has been the focus of much of Sir Stelios’s anger at times, having survived at least two votes to remove him, and is standing down after three years in the job, a relatively short time for a chairman, but a decision taken in recognition of his other roles at BT, Barclays and soon-to-be president of the CBI.
Although as easyJet’s share price continues to rise there is the very real prospect that Sir Stelios will further sell down the family stake, until then whoever takes the plum job must be ready for a fight. The Greek-Cypriot founder told me recently that his current modus operandi – remaining off the board and exerting pressure from the sidelines – works well, and he will not change it. Rake’s successor must be many things, but tough-skinned must be paramount
Daily Telegraph
