• 

  easyJet

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  U2/EZY (UK) | EC/EJU (Europe) | DS/EZS (Switzerland)

  Airline Type:

  Low-Cost Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, Berlin Brandenburg Airport, Geneva Airport, London Gatwick Airport, London Luton Airport, Milan Malpensa Airport

  Year Founded:

  1995

  CEO:

  Johan Lundgren

In a surprise move, easyJet’s Chief Operating Officer Peter Bellew has resigned from his position. The airline says he is leaving to ‘pursue other business opportunities'. Replacing him in the interim will be David Morgan, current Director of Flight Operations for easyJet. Bellew took the post of COO at easyJet in late 2019.

Morgan has been with easyJet since 2016, and previously spent a year as interim COO in 2019. CEO of easyJet, Johan Lundgren, said that,

"I am pleased that operations will be in the very capable hands of David Morgan who can move seamlessly into this role having previously led the operation, as interim chief operating officer, throughout 2019.

"David has significant experience and deep knowledge of the business and operation and will provide strong leadership for the airline this summer."

This comes as easyJet continues to battle with the surging demand for travel and disruptions to flights. Having cut its summer schedule, it seems the pain is not over for the British low-cost, as strikes continue in Spain and stories of canceled flights and disrupted travel plans still hit the headlines.

UPDATE: 2022/07/04 13:13 EST BY JOANNA BAILEY

Statement from easyJet

easyJet announces that, with effect from 1 July 2022, Peter Bellew has resigned as Chief Operating Officer to pursue other business opportunities and in the meantime is committed to ensuring a smooth transition.

The Board would like to thank Peter for his hard work over the last two and half years and wishes him well in his future endeavours.

easyJet remains absolutely focused on our daily operation and continues to monitor this very closely, having taken pre-emptive action to build further resilience for the summer due to the current operating environment. The airline continues to operate up to 1700 flights each day and carry up to 250,000 passengers.

A tricky history

Prior to arriving at easyJet, Bellew was Chief Operations Officer for Ryanair from 2017 to 2019. He previously held the post of CEO at Malaysia Airlines from 2015, taking over from Christoph Mueller as the third airline CEO in two years. Before that, he had been entrenched in Irish aviation, first as director and general manager at Kerry Airport and, from 2006, as deputy director of flight operations at Ryanair, later becoming their COO.

His most recent departure from Ryanair stirred some controversy in the aviation industry, with the Irish low-cost carrier filing a lawsuit against Bellew for the move. The airline claimed he was in possession of information of competitive value, and claimed he was bound by an agreement restraining him from working for another European airline for at least a year.

Despite Bellew admitting he did sign such a covenant, and that he understood its meaning and purpose fully, Ryanair ultimately lost the court case against Bellew. The High Court of Ireland noted that the covenant was “void and unenforceable as an unjustified restraint of trade.”

Troubles at easyJet

His time at easyJet has been somewhat checkered as well. In 2020, he necessitated an apology from easyJet to its staff after Bellew’s motivational video addressing pilots and cabin crew was discovered to have been plagiarized from a speech by Ireland’s Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar.

BALPA (the British Airline Pilots’ Association) launched a vote of no confidence in Bellew in July of that year. They claimed he had exhibited poor handling of the pandemic, bypassed unions, and attempted to make over 700 pilots redundant with no business justification. The vote came back with a 99.9% ‘no confidence’ from more than 2,000 members of the union.

Where Bellew will land next remains to be seen.