Shipping Magnate’s Son Flies High at Young Age
Stelios Haji-Ioannou seems a little young and casual to own an airplane, much less an airline.
Like easyJet Co., the airline he started 10 months ago, Haji-Ioannou gives a no-frills impression. The owner of Europe’s newest discount airline dresses casually. At 29, he exudes poise beyond his years. Nonetheless, he calls his father every day for advice.
“I like changing things,” he said in an interview. “Doing things the old way doesn’t excite me. As a young person I like to take things forward, to prove to the older generation that times have changed.”
One of the things he’s taking forward is a lawsuit against KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, which he alleges is using fare cuts to push easyJet out of the London-Amsterdam market. KLM declined a request to discuss the allegation.
Haji-Ioannou says the Dutch flag carrier is just being a bully.
“They miscalculated the situation. They should have done like British Airways and ignored us,” he said. “The 300 people we need to fill up our planes are not going to make a big dent in their balance sheet.”
His four Boeing 737 aircraft now serve Amsterdam, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Barcelona and Nice from easyJet’s base at London’s Luton airport.
“I admire him enormously,” said Virgin Atlantic Airways Chairman Richard Branson. “He’s not your typical son of a wealthy person. He has taught quite a few old hands in the business, who should have more experience than he, a thing or two.”
Haji-Ioannou is that rarity, the son of a wealthy man who succeeded in business on his own. He’s the middle son of Greek shipping magnate Louscas Haji-Ioannou, who remains perhaps his most important advisor.
Skirmishing with KLM has been eye-opening, the young executive said.
“I’m small in this business and dealing with giants like British Airways and KLM is sometimes frightening, but it demonstrates why so many start-up airlines have failed,” he said. “This is not a business for the fainthearted and it is not a business you can survive in with little cash.”
He acknowledges that his family wealth was instrumental in getting easyJet started.
He delights in interacting with his customers.
“I love being on board the aircraft and having people thanking me for making it affordable for them to fly,” he said.
He confidently predicts easyJet will be operating profitably by next month.
While Haji-Ioannou runs day-to-day operations, working days that can stretch to 16 hours, his family has invested with him.
He was born in Athens and maintains homes there and in London, Monte Carlo and Cyprus. The younger Haji-Ioannou says his father still plays an integral part in his life and they discuss business daily.
“He told me shipping was too small for me. And I should expand into other businesses,” the son says of the father.
He earned a degree in economics from the London School of Economics and a master’s degree in shipping, trade and finance from the City University Business School.
Before creating easyJet, he worked in the family shipping business for four years. When he was 25, he set up his own shipping business called Stelmar Tankers.
He still oversees that business and additionally makes time to spend weekends in Athens aboard his 110-foot yacht.
” The value of this airline can be measured by the 6,000 or so phone calls we receive every day,” he said. “Once we reach critical mass and profitability . . . I think this company will be worth a lot of money on the stock exchange, but not yet.”
Pressed to define critical mass, Haji-Ioannou said he will begin thinking about selling shares to the public when easyJet has 10 aircraft.
Airline analysts say easyJet’s owner has a focused formula that is modest but sensible. “He is keeping it simple,” said NatWest Securities Ltd. analyst Michael Powell. “He’s created a market for new travelers.”
