Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou celebrates 30 ‘easy’ years
The easy adventure began in 1994 - © easyHistory
A superb video retraces the history of the group, which was created by the Monegasque resident when he was just 27 years old.
In 1994, the young man of Cypriot origin could not have imagined that, three decades later, he would have revolutionised the air transport sector and, more generally, low-cost tourism. And yet… After travelling to the US to visit a Boeing factory, flying on a low-cost airline and staying in a budget hotel for the first time, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou had an idea: to create a name that could apply to an airline as well as a hotel…
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Using a paper napkin in a bar as his ‘drawing board’, the young entrepreneur came up with several names, several keywords, before hitting on: “easy.” And so easyJet was born in 1995, followed by easyGroup in 1998. And the brands kept coming: easyHotel, easyCar, easyBus, easyCleaning, easyLife, easyStorage… The concept worked so well that Sir Stelios set up his own Foundation, whose activities are regularly funded from the Group’s brand royalties. A foundation that encourages young entrepreneurs to pursue their ideas, as he himself had done.
“Give back to society”
In honour of the group’s exceptional journey, the easyHistory website has published a video retracing the major milestones along the way: from the first orange and white aircraft, to the first interviews, as well as the billionaire being knighted by the late Queen Elizabeth II in 2006… Today, over a hundred brands bear the easy name and are part of the group.
“I consider myself fortunate to have had the opportunity to create this recurring income stream from the easy family of brands which I use every year to give back to society,” said Sir Stelios Haji-Iannou. Looking to the future, he added: “Here is to the next 30 years of the easy family and to a lot more good work done by my foundation.”