This week's change of regime at EasyJet could hardly be more symbolic of the transformation of the low-cost airline in seven short years from risky start-up to potential FTSE 100 blue-chip.
Mr Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the 35-year-old entrepreneur, who founded the airline while still in his 20s from a shed at Luton airport, stood down from the board on Tuesday to be replaced as chairman by Sir Colin Chandler, former chairman and chief executive of Vickers and a figure of the British corporate establishment.
Sir Colin, knighted by Margaret Thatcher in 1988 for his services to exports, was previously Britain's arms super-salesman.
He played a key role in winning the £20 billion sterling Al Yamamah defence contract selling Tornadoes, Hawks, ships and airbases to Saudi Arabia, a deal which proved crucial to funding the survival of British Aerospace, as it struggled against collapse in the early 1990s.
After four-and-a-half years on secondment from the then BAe to the ministry of defence as head of defence sales, he moved to Vickers in 1990, first as managing director and then chief executive and finally chairman.
He transformed the conglomerate during the 1990s in a series of deals including the controversial sale of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars to Volkswagen in 1998.
After the acquisition of Vickers by Rolls-Royce in late 1999, the jet engine maker, he became deputy chairman of Smiths Group, and he was headhunted to EasyJet earlier this year, as the airline sought to strengthen its bid for corporate respectability.
With Stelios gone, the airline will undoubtedly lose some of its flamboyance, but it will also lose some of its unpredictability. The EasyJet flotation prospectus had 14 pages on "risk factors" including a section on "chairman's reputation".
Sir Colin still exhibits some sense of culture shock over his arrival. After board meetings "we queue in the canteen with everyone else and pay for our own lunch", he said yesterday. "It's the right thing to do, but it's different from what I've been used to."
As the new broom, he says he is trying "to get more structure" into the processes of the board "without getting too much bureaucracy. We don't want the style and spirit to be dissipated or to do any insidious damage to the low-cost culture".
In reality, he will have his hands full just coping with the immediate Stelios legacy and the consequences of the big decisions that have already been taken this year.
In the course of just a few months EasyJet has:
taken over its smaller rival Go to leap-frog Ryanair to become Europe's biggest no frills airline.
bought an option to take over Deutsche BA in Germany.
placed the biggest order for new aircraft in the world this year to support its ambitious growth plans, momentously choosing Airbus rather than Boeing jets and taking on the complexity of operating a mixed fleet for the first time.
Mr Haji-Ioannou left with the announcement of record results. He remains the largest shareholder with a 21.9 per cent stake in the £1.5 billion airline, he can nominate one director, and he holds the rights to the Easy brand. He will use his departure to focus on his other Easy-branded ventures.
Next to join the Easy stable is EasyCinema, a no-frills cinema venture. It will join a clutch of other businesses: EasyInternet Cafe, a chain of internet coffee-shops; EasyCar, a car rental business; EasyValue, an internet price comparator; EasyMoney, a credit card business and EasyDotCom, a free internet service.
Mr Haji-Ioannou is negotiating on four potential EasyCinema sites, not all in London. He has commissioned the booking and yield management software, and could be ready to open the first EasyCinema on April 1st.
He is also actively considering three further ventures: inter-city coaches; fitness clubs; and EasyDorm, a no-frills hotel business. Entering the coach business would see Mr Haji-Ioannou take on National Express, Britain's largest scheduled coach operator.
The new ventures will be funded from Mr Haji-Ioannou's "reserves", although he says he may sell some of his shares in EasyJet to fund them. He does not expect EasyCinema's initial costs to be much more than £1 million.
He also still has his work cut out at his other businesses. EasyInternet Café has been in loss for two years, although Mr Haji-Ioannou says it should reach cash-flow break-even by the end of this year and profitability in mid-2003.
EasyCar has also missed its target of reaching profitability in the year to September 30th, but he is hopeful it will do so in 2003, aided by lower labour costs, new outlets and fleet expansion.
"Clearly, I will not be spending too much time on the beach," he said.
