Summary
- easyJet CEO Johan Lundgren will step down in 2025 for Kenton Jarvis.
- A smooth transition is planned with a year to handover responsibilities.
- Lundgren has been praised for steering the airline through many challenges.
In a statement to the London Stock Exchange filed today, budget airline easyJet announced that its chief executive officer, Johan Lundgren, had quit and will leave the airline early in 2025.
Time to pass the baton
After joining easyJet in 2017 and serving as CEO for the last seven years, Johan Lundgren has informed the company he is stepping down from his position and will leave the airline in early 2025.
easyJet said that he is expected to step down from the Board and as Chief executive on 1 January 2025. However, he will remain with the company until the conclusion of his notice period on 16 May 2025. The stock exchange filing also noted that Lundgren will be treated in accordance with easyJet’s remuneration policy, and he “will be treated as a good leaver for the purposes of incentives.”
Photo: Ceri Breeze | Shutterstock
When a CEO decides to leave, it can sometimes take far too long to find a successor, but that’s not the case with easyJet, as it also revealed that the current chief financial officer, Kenton Jarvis, will succeed Lundgren. Jarvis joined easyJet in 2021 and has served as a Board member and CFO since then. His previous roles included a period as CEO of TUI’s airline division.
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Lundgren congratulated Jarvis and said the nomination was fully deserved and that he would work closely with him and the executive team to achieve this year’s goals before handing over his responsibilities smoothly at the end of the year.
“There are important things still to accomplish over the balance of the year, but when the time comes, I will leave easyJet with a great sense of loyalty and of pride at the progress made and the potential the Company has for the future.” – Johan Lundgren
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
The Chair of easyJet, Sir Stephen Hester, said Lundgren had done an excellent job of steering the company through the immense challenges of the COVID period and setting up a clear strategy and strong execution plan towards its ambition of “being Europe’s most loved airline, winning for customers, shareholders and our people.”
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Jarvis will continue in his role during the transition, and his remuneration package will be structured in line with easyJet’s existing policy for its CEO. The only detail was that, on appointment, his annual salary would be £800,000. Jarvis seems to be happy with that, as he said:
“I am delighted to have been appointed the next CEO of easyJet and thank the Board and my colleagues for their trust and confidence. I am a huge believer in the future for our airline, which is powered by the talents and enthusiasm of our front line staff. I will be immensely proud to lead our teams to fulfill easyJet’s bright potential.”
The new CEO in-waiting can now focus on the half-year results for 2024, which show that easyJet lost £350 million in the six months between October 2023 and March 2024. That sounds pretty bad but was a £61 million improvement on the previous year and not unexpected. easyJet said that forward bookings for summer are strong, and the airline is on track to achieve its full-year earnings targets.
How do you assess Lundgren’s performance as CEO? Let us know in the comments.
