EasyJet’s chief pilot has quit and is expected to join the Fastjet budget carrier being established by the UK carrier’s found Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou.
Rob Bishton (pictured) is leaving after two years with EasyJet and is reported to be joining Fastjet as operations director, reporting to Ed Winter, former chief operating officer at EasyJet.
EasyJet has started a search for a replacement both internally and esternally.
Bishton was previously flight operators director of Astraeus Airlines.
Meanwhile, Sir Stelios is reported to have written to shareholders calling for the removal of Sir Michael Rake as chairman. Sir Michael is also deputy chairman of Barclays, the bank involved in the Libor lending controversy.
Sir Stelios has called for a general meeting, which will be held on August 13.
EasyJet called Sir Stelios’s actions “a significant distraction to management [that would] put the company’s stability and corporate governance at risk”.