Stephen Hester to join as the chairperson of Easyjet

Tuesday, August 24, 2021

Easy Jet is appointing Stephen Hester, the former boss of Royal Bank of Scotland as the chairperson of easyJet at the end of 2020.

Hester will join the board as a non-executive director next month.

Most recently he served as the chief executive of the insurer RSA from 2014 until May.

Hester will take over as the chair of the airline on December 1, succeeding John Barton.

Barton will step down after almost nine years in the same role.

Hester has to his credit more than 35 years of experience across a range of business sectors.

This includes the property firm British Land and the Swiss Bank Credit Suisse.

Hester also ran the part-nationalised bank for about five years in a role that he described as “bruising difficult” until he was forced out with 1.6 m  reimburse in 2013.

Barton said Hester’s significant and varied experience of leading major international businesses in regulated industries will serve the airline well.

Hester’s experience along with his outstanding strategic thinking will complement and add to the skills of the existing board and leadership team.

Barton said that he was proud of how easyJet had navigated through the pandemic and said that the carrier was well-positioned for the future.

The easyJet CEO Johan Lundgren thanked Barton for his wise leadership and said he was looking forward to working with Hester.

After the relaxation of COVID curbs on travel from the UK to other European countries, easyJet reported a surge in ticket sales this summer.

The airline intends to fly 60% of its capacity between July and September but does not expect travel to recover to 2019 levels till 2023.

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