Laurence Dollimore
EASYJET has hit back at claims it is facing going bust due to the mass grounding of flights over coronavirus.
An English-language newspaper uploaded a story today saying the budget airline ‘could go bust’ as ‘flights to the Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca stay grounded.’
But after a quick call to easyJet, the Olive Press can confirm that is a long way off.
When asked if the story had any merit, a spokesperson simply told this paper: “No.”
She added: “We have already said we have enough liquidity to endure even a prolonged grounding of nine months or longer.”
Meanwhile, a general meeting of shareholders has been called for May 22 to vote on founder and rebel shareholder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannous’s resolution to remove the current directors and pull out of a plane supply deal with Airbus, which has been in place since 2002.
But easyJet says this could put the company at ‘significant financial and operational risk’ as it could bring a dragged out court case and wreck its relationship with a major global supplier.
Sir Stelios, who owns 35% of shares, only needs 50% of shares casting votes.
But his plan was also brought up at the previous shareholder vote and failed to gain traction.
CEO Johan Lundgren says easyJet has almost €3.5 billion in cash after raising capital and cutting costs by grounding fleets.
The company says it could survive more than nine months with a grounded fleet.
Investors such as Invesco, Blackrock and Marathon will now be encouraged to counter Sir Stelios ahead of the vote, set to be cast online on May 20.
