Shareholders of British low-cost-carrier easyJet have approved an order for 56 Airbus A320neos and the conversion of a previous order of 18 A320neos into A321neos.
The decision was announced on July 20, 2022, following an extraordinary general meeting. 99.95% of shareholders voted in favor of the resolution on the order and the conversion.
The A320neos will be delivered from financial year 2026 until financial year 2029 to replace older A319 and A320 aircraft. As for the A321neos, they are expected between 2024 and 2027.
The order is part of an existing contract for 107 Airbus aircraft, worth an estimated €5 billion ($5.1 billion), that was signed in 2013. Throughout 2020, the deal was at the center of a controversy between easyJet founder and biggest shareholder Stelios Haji-Ioannou and the management of the Luton-based carrier.
Haji-Ioannou had qualified the easyJet order as “the largest single threat to the solvency of the company,” and accused the directors of the board of having received bribes from Airbus not to scrap the deal.
However, shortly before the shareholders’ decision was announced, Reuters reported that the founder would call for a truce.
