Low-cost airline Easyjet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou failed in his bid to oust the company's three top executives on Friday, amid a controversy over a decision to buy new aircraft.

Stelios Haji-Ioannou, who currently owns 34 percent of Easyjet, believes that the company's order for 107 new aircraft from Airbus is headless and risks putting the company into bankruptcy, and ahead of today's extraordinary general meeting, he had therefore raised the issue of having the management removed.

However, 99 percent of the other votes ended up in the management's favor, which is why most of the evidence now seems to speak in favor of Easjyet's Swedish CEO, Johan Lundgren, and his decision to purchase the plan.

”The board wishes to have a good relationship with all shareholders and hopes to reconnect in a constructive way with Sir Stelios,” said chairman John Barton in a statement on Friday.

Easyjet has previously claimed that the company's finances are sufficient to weather the pandemic crisis and that the new planes from Airbus will come in handy in exchange for an outdated fleet when air travelers can once again populate the world's airspace under normal conditions.

Stelios Haji-Ioannou founded Easyjet in 1995, but left the board in 2010. He has been embroiled in several conflicts with the company's management since then. Earlier in May, he offered a reward of £5 million for information that could lead to the cancellation of the order. 

Regardless of today's outcome, Stelios Haji-Ioannou recently claimed that his efforts to stop the Airbus deal will not end even if the votes fall in the management's favor.

Source: Nyhetsbyrån Direkt