Of all the disturbing news out there at the moment, up there is some American company’s possible takeover of easyJet. Last week we learned that the budget airline had agreed in principle to a £5.7 billion takeover offer from US asset management firm Apollo – days after accepting a bid from rival firm Castlelake.
What? Good old sleazyJet exiting the London market? Just when it was becoming really, really good? Alright, I may be exaggerating slightly here – budget airlines never get really, really good (that is why they are called budget, dear). But there is budget and then there is budget. Who can forget when Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary floated the idea of standing seats on flights and a £1 ‘pay-per-pee’ fee to use the lavatory in 2010? O’Leary is probably what gave ‘no-frills flying’ its bad name. Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the founder and CEO of easyJet, seems to be a different animal.
I’ve got my quibbles, of course. Please don’t bombard me with offers from easyCar, easyHotel, easyGym and so on – I’m never going to bite! And how amazing would it be if the firm did what Japan Airlines has taken to doing (which is to flag on the seat selection map where babies are sitting)? But these are mere suggestions. Unlike certain other airlines – the ones that can afford to charge more and appear to spend all their money on hiring ‘celebrities’ such as the comedian Asim Chaudhry aka Chabuddy to appear in their safety videos – the management at easyJet seem to be doing their darndest to make the experience of flying at least bearable.
