Child is not the right man for the job, says Haji-Ioannou
Fastjet
has hit out at Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the co-founder and
second-biggest shareholder in the African airline, for calling on
investors to oust its chairman.
Child
became chairman of the Tanzania-based airline in September last year.
Haji-Ioannou condemned Child for taking a lot of time to appoint a new
CEO after Ed Winter quit on January. Nico Bezuidenhout, who was
previously CEO of South African carrier Mango Airlines, was appointed
only last week.
In
a letter to shareholders, Rob Burnham, Fastjet’s non-executive
director, wrote: “The board firmly considers that a period of continuity
and stability is essential following the appointment of the new chief
executive and the numerous board changes that have occurred in the past
year."
He
added: "I have worked closely with Colin over the past few months and I
can say that Colin has, since he joined the board and more recently in
his temporary role as executive chairman, continuously demonstrated his
commitment to your company and sought always to act in the best interest
of all shareholders.”
Earlier
this week, the EasyJet founder wrote to shareholders of Fastjet urging
them to vote to remove the company's chairman Colin Child at its annual
meeting which will take place in London on 28 June.
"We
have had numerous discussions with Colin Child since his appointment
and, quite simply, do not believe he is the right man for the job," said
Haji-Ioannou.
"Chairing
an airline (even a tiny one like Fastjet) is a serious and complicated
business and doing it from almost 5,000 miles from its centre of
operations and customers is ridiculous."
Last week, Fastjet posted annual pre-tax losses of $41m while revenues rose 21per cent to $65.1m.
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