London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Jun 20, 2025

The battle for Britain’s skies takes a new twist pitting easyJet against Wizz Air

The battle for Britain’s skies takes a new twist pitting easyJet against Wizz Air

Analysis: airline fends off Hungarian interloper in increasingly febrile fight over Gatwick slots
The battle for the post-pandemic holiday skies has taken a new twist, as easyJet launched a £1.2bn fundraiser while announcing it had fended off a takeover bid – widely assumed to be from rival Wizz Air.

EasyJet, the dominant airline at Gatwick , said the “unsolicited approach” from an unnamed bidder was unanimously rejected by its board. Wizz declined to comment but the offer of an “all-share transaction” pointed to the Hungary-based carrier, which has targeted rapid expansion across Europe with a beady eye on England’s leisure market, which London’s second airport serves.

Rebuffing the move, easyJet’s chief executive Johan Lundgren instead said his airline was in fact mulling expansion into territory vacated by the likes of British Airways and would use funds from the £1.2bn rights issue, all being well, for opportunities.

The approach for the budget airline – which is still 25% controlled by its founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou – reflects the increasingly febrile battle for dominance as airlines look to emerge from the worst crisis in their history.

BA, owned by IAG, is doing all it can to set up a lower-cost subsidiary to keep flying from Gatwick and avoid losing any slots to competitors. With BA having halted operations during the pandemic, chief executive Sean Doyle said this week it would consider selling slots if “advanced negotiations” with unions failed – but observers deem it unlikely that the airline would cede valuable London territory to easyJet or Wizz. Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said BA’s plan was “doomed to fail”, adding: “Will BA ever successfully set up a low-cost airline? No. BA has had six or seven goes at it.”

After the carnage wrought by the pandemic on the airline industry, BA and easyJet are struggling more than their lower-cost rivals. Much of BA’s long-haul and lucrative transatlantic flying is still effectively ruled out. And easyJet is suffering from its reliance on the UK at a time when restrictions in Europe have eased, with a corresponding rebound in EU short-haul traffic. Little wonder that Lundgren again hit out at UK government policy of “expensive PCR testing and confusion” on Wednesday.

The rights issue announced on Wednesday, the second in a year, means easyJet has called on shareholders for more than £1.6bn during the pandemic. Lundgren characterised the need for more cash as both “defensive and offensive”, with the money shoring up the airline through a drawn-out recovery, should summer 2022 be as bad for airlines as this. But he said it could also be used for “opportunities” should recovery allow – moving into markets vacated by the “retrenchment of legacy carriers”, including, he suggested, Gatwick slots.

Dream on, others think. “EasyJet’s clearly got appetite to get slots at Gatwick. But it would be very surprising strategically if IAG were willing to let go of any,” said HSBC’s Andrew Lobbenberg. While BA’s Heathrow operation traditionally generates the big profits, added competition at Gatwick could still threaten its bottom line.

“The reality is that Wizz is encroaching more and more on easyJet’s territory,” said John Strickland of JLS Consulting. “And part of BA’s rationale for looking at how they operate and at their cost base at Gatwick is the awareness of Wizz’s likely arrival in force at Gatwick.”

A Wizz bid for EasyJet would make sense, he said: “They’ve made clear they’ve got sizeable ambitions for Gatwick, and [chief executive] József Váradi, like O’Leary, has made clear they don’t believe easyJet would be independent in the medium term.”

Beyond the slot portfolio at Gatwick (and Luton), as fellow operators of Airbus fleets, “Wizz could be interested by easyJet’s order book as well,” said Lobbenberg. “They’re starting to talk about mid-term aspirations to go as far as 600 aircraft to draw comparison with Ryanair – they’d need to buy more planes.”

An offer from a rival airline could be a good destabilising tactic, some suggest, at a time when easyJet has already suffered some internal turbulence, pandemic aside: a number of directors quit in the past year, including chief commercial officer Robert Carey defecting to a role as president of Wizz.

For now, easyJet said, the bidder has dropped its interest – although Lundgren did not rule out the possibility of mergers or acquisitions, should other better offers emerge.
EasyJet shares fell 9% on Thursday and it is now trading at less than half its pre-Covid value. Haji-Ioannou

has indicated that he won’t invest any more money in it until it cancels its Airbus orders for more A321s – meaning his 25% stake will be diluted to 15% after the rights issue. Ryanair’s shares have held roughly firm from early 2020 while Wizz’s has increased over the pandemic – even after the biggest shareholders, US private equity firm Indigo Partners, offloaded half its stake in March to retain just 8.5%.

For Gatwick – which suffered the biggest percentage drop in passenger numbers of any major European airport during Covid – the idea of airlines vying for position in its short-haul leisure market will be welcome. Gatwick has relaunched plans to increase capacity to 750 million passengers a year, however detached from current reality that appears.

Lobbenberg said: “It’s had an absolutely shocking year, but if you look at the London airports’ pecking order, after Heathrow, the unit revenues from Gatwick are clearly stronger than what you can get from Stansted or Luton. I would be very confident that Gatwick will recover.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
16 Billion Login Credentials Leaked in Unprecedented Cybersecurity Breach
Senate hearing on who was 'really running' Biden White House kicks off
Iranian Military Officers Reportedly Seek Contact with Reza Pahlavi, Signal Intent to Defect
FBI and Senate Investigate Allegations of Chinese Plot to Influence the 2020 Election in Biden’s Favor Using Fake U.S. Driver’s Licenses
Vietnam Emerges as Luxury Yacht Destination for Ultra‑Rich
Plans to Sell Dutch Embassy in Bangkok Face Local Opposition
China's Iranian Oil Imports Face Disruption Amid Escalating Middle East Tensions
Trump's $5 Million 'Trump Card' Visa Program Draws Nearly 70,000 Applicants
DGCA Finds No Major Safety Concerns in Air India's Boeing 787 Fleet
Airlines Reroute Flights Amid Expanding Middle East Conflict Zones
Elon Musk's xAI Seeks $9.3 Billion in Funding Amid AI Expansion
Trump Demands Iran's Unconditional Surrender Amid Escalating Conflict
Israeli Airstrike Targets Iranian State TV in Central Tehran
President Trump is leaving the G7 summit early and has ordered the National Security Council to the Situation Room
Taiwan Imposes Export Ban on Chips to Huawei and SMIC
Israel has just announced plans to strike Tehran again, and in response, Trump has urged people to evacuate
Netanyahu Signals Potential Regime Change in Iran
Juncker Criticizes EU Inaction on Trump Tariffs
EU Proposes Ban on New Russian Gas Contracts
Analysts Warn Iran May Resort to Unconventional Warfare
Iranian Regime Faces Existential Threat Amid Conflict
Energy Infrastructure Becomes War Zone in Middle East
UK Home Secretary Apologizes Over Child Grooming Failures
Trump Organization Launches 5G Mobile Network and Golden Handset
Towcester Hosts 2025 English Greyhound Derby Amid Industry Scrutiny
Gary Oldman and David Beckham Knighted in King's Birthday Honours
Over 30,000 Lightning Strikes Recorded Across UK During Overnight Storms
Princess of Wales Returns to Public Duties at Trooping the Colour
Red Arrows Use Sustainable Fuel in Historic Trooping the Colour Flypast
Former Welsh First Minister Addresses Unionist Concerns Over Irish Language
Iran Signals Openness to Nuclear Negotiations Amid Ongoing Regional Tensions
France Bars Israeli Arms Companies from Paris Defense Expo
King Charles Leads Tribute to Air India Crash Victims at Trooping the Colour
Jack Pitchford Embarks on 200-Mile Walk to Support Stem Cell Charity
Surrey Hikers Take on Challenge of Climbing 11 Peaks in a Single Day
UK Deploys RAF Jets to Middle East Amid Israel-Iran Tensions
Two Skydivers Die in 'Tragic Accident' at Devon Airfield
Sainsbury's and Morrisons Accused of Displaying Prohibited Tobacco Ads
UK Launches National Inquiry into Grooming Gangs
Families Seek Closure After Air India Crash
Gold Emerges as Global Safe Haven Amid Uncertainty
Trump Reports $57 Million Earnings from Crypto Venture
Trump's Military Parade Sparks Concerns Over Authoritarianism
Nationwide 'No Kings' Protests Challenge Trump's Leadership
UK Deploys Jets to Middle East Amid Rising Tensions
Trump's Anti-War Stance Tested Amid Israel-Iran Conflict
Germany Holds First Veterans Celebration Since WWII
U.S. Health Secretary Dismisses CDC Vaccine Advisory Committee
Minnesota Lawmaker Melissa Hortman and Husband Killed in Targeted Attack; Senator John Hoffman and Wife Injured
Exiled Iranian Prince Reza Pahlavi Urges Overthrow of Khamenei Regime
×