The travel expert has a message to anyone who has booked easyJet flights
Travel expert Simon Calder has issued a message to anyone with flights booked with easyJet. Last week, it was reported that the budget British airline has agreed to be bought by a US investment giant for £5.7billion.
EasyJet announced it had reached an “agreement in principle” with Apollo Global. It comes after a series of approaches by another American giant, Castlelake, which could come back with a counter offer.
It is unclear what the deal, if it happens, would mean for easyJet customers and employees. However, Simon has given his expert verdict on the situation.
Explaining the deal on the Travel Expert with Simon Calder podcast, he said: “easyJet for a fair while was the biggest budget airline in Europe, then Ryanair gradually overtook.
“We are now at the stage where Ryanair is almost twice as big as easyJet but its market capitalisation, in other words what investors think it is worth, is about five or six times easyJet.”
If the deal goes through, Simon explained the best case scenario would be if not much changes.
He said: “That easyJet continues on its trajectory which is one of steady growth and of course, offering great service, incredible safety standards and delivering very good value for the traveller.”
Many passengers are worried about what the potential deal could mean for flights and holidays already booked, especially in the coming weeks as we enter peak summer travel season.
Simon’s co-host Greg Dickinson urged: “Let us stress that if you have a holiday booked with easyJet this summer or a flight with easyJet, it is going ahead as normal.
“These changes are going to take months to get the deal completed, and it will be a year until we start seeing anything different.”
Simon agreed as he said: “I think that is absolutely right, do not fret. I’ve had some people say to me, ‘Is it alright to book with easyJet?’ Well, of course it is.”
The travel expert said that if you have flights booked next year and the potential takeover means the flight won’t run, passengers are entitled to ask the airline to find them an alternative at the airline’s expense.
He added: “It would not be a problem, carry on booking easyJet and the interesting element will be whether it goes through.”
A stock market statement said: “Apollo has followed easyJet for many years and continues to regard it as one of the most attractive businesses in the global aviation sector and a highly differentiated franchise with significant long-term growth potential.”
It added: “Apollo places a high value on people and believes that identifying and retaining key staff within the easyJet Group will be of paramount importance.” It also said other investments by Apollo in airlines had led to it “growing the employee bases”.
EasyJet was founded by entrepreneur Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou in 1995 to offer low-cost fares in Europe. The first inaugural flights took off in November 1995, flying from Luton to Glasgow and Edinburgh. Sir Stelios and his family still own 15.3% of the airline.
Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “EasyJet shareholders are strapping in for an exciting ride as Apollo enters the race to land the orange airline company.
“Apollo’s offer is now the preferred option and the one that easyJet’s management would recommend to shareholders. But the deal’s not off the runway yet, with Apollo having until August 7 to decide whether to make a formal bid. In that time, rival bidder Castlelake could still come to the table with improved terms.”
