EasyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou celebrates the 10th anniversary of the airline's
inaugural flight from Luton to Glasgow. Photograph: Chris Radburn/PA
For once, the budget airline easyJet has broken its no-frills policy by serving free drinks to celebrate its airline's 10th anniversary.
Passengers on the 11am flight from Luton to Glasgow - the route that launched the airline - were greeted at Luton, easyJet's headquarters, by its founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou, and given free chocolate bars.
Stelios, as he is known, describes himself as a serial entrepreneur. On the back of easyJet's success, he went on to set up easyInternetCafe, easyCar, easyCruise and easyCinema. Of course it helps to have a rich relative. Stelios set up easyJet with a £5m loan from his billionaire shipping-magnate father.
Despite all the proliferation of easy ventures, easyJet remains the jewel in the Stelios empire - a textbook article of ingenious marketing.
Stelios painted his planes a gaudy shade of orange and garnered widespread media coverage though various stunts, including wearing an orange boiler suit while boarding a BA plane.
Together with its bigger and more profitable low-cost rival Ryanair, easyJet has revolutionised the airline industry. The budget airlines criss-cross Europe, offering rock-bottom fares to millions, driving the more established carriers to distraction. EasyJet now flies to 67 European airports, has 110 aircraft and carries more than 30 million passengers a year. The carrier has bases not only at Luton but also at Paris, Berlin, Dortmund and Basle, and employs 3,000 flight-deck and cabin crew.
While Ryanair reflects the abrasive personality of its chairman, Michael O'Leary, easyJet has escaped the ruthless reputation of its rival.
Although the past 10 years have been good for easyJet and Ryanair, they can expect harder times ahead. The traditional carriers have been fighting back. BA has withstood the brutal challenge from the budget airlines by laying off thousands of staff, cutting unprofitable routes and slashing costs. Perhaps the darkest cloud on the horizon for budget airlines is the prospect of a tax on aviation fuel that will whittle away their price advantage.
Stelios is not the first person to come up with the idea of cheap flights. Remember Freddie Laker - another outsize personality? In 1982, Laker Airways went belly up after 12 years in 1982. Laker remains a cautionary tale for both easyJet and Ryanair.
