EasyJet agrees deal in Stelios row

Low-cost airline easyJet today announced a deal to end its long-running row with founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou and secure its use of the “easy” brand.

The budget carrier has agreed a multimillion-pound-a-year package for Haji-Ioannou in order to resolve an increasingly bitter dispute over a strategy which threatened to see it forced into a rebrand.

It will pay Haji-Ioannou 0.25% of its revenues each year, fixed at £3.9m (€4.4m) and £4.95m (€5.66m) for the first two years, plus another £300,000 (€343,000) annually.

In return, Haji-Ioannou – who along with his family owns around 37% of the airline – has revised the terms of the licence agreement, giving easyJet more freedom and scrapping clauses which previously allowed Haji-Ioannou to step in as chairman.

He described the agreement as a “win-win for all concerned”.