High-flying Kiwi in hot seat

LONDON - New Zealander Ray Webster has been appointed chief executive of Europe's leading no-frills airline, easyJet, as the British company prepares for listing on the London Stock Exchange.

Mr Webster, formerly Air New Zealand's strategic planning general manager, joined easyJet four years ago.

The no-frills, orange-coloured airline has featured in a fly-on-the-wall series on NZ television.

EasyJet, which owns 18 Boeing 737s and moved 5.5 million people across Europe in the past year, hopes to float by November.

"We are on 28 routes into 16 cities out of Luton, Liverpool, Geneva, Gatwick and shortly Amsterdam," said Mr Webster. "We have grown 80 per cent in the last year and our fleet is an average four years old, compared with the industry average of 6.5.

"By 2004, our fleet age will average two years old, after we increase the fleet by 32 new Boeing planes."

EasyJet has reorganised its board, increasing the number of non-executive directors in preparation for its primary flotation.

About 15 per cent of shares will be made available to 1400 staff.

Mr Webster, from Christchurch, has changed his job title from managing director to chief executive officer, reflecting common practice among listed companies.

Mr Webster, who started his career as an electrical engineer for Air New Zealand, will continue to report to Stelios Haji-Ioannou, easyJet's chairman and founder.

EasyJet has an estimated market capitalisation of £500 million ($1.8 billion) to £600 million and aims to float 25 per cent of equity.

New Zealanders on holiday in Some of the easyJet prices are very low - as low as £39 from Luton to Europe - compared with NZ domestic fares.

"There is a huge opportunity to set up a low-cost airline on the eastern board of Australia and the three main centres in New Zealand," Mr Webster said.

"Ewan Wilson [of Kiwi Air] demonstrated there was a market but it needs to be done correctly."

EasyJet is growing at a phenomenal rate. More than four million tickets a year - up to 80 per cent - are bought through the internet.

Mr Webster said he enjoyed his working relationship with 33-year-old Mr Haji-Ioannou, the maverick Greek founder and multimillionaire shipping magnate, who has told the world he plans to triple his passenger numbers and double his workforce by 2004.

While the Dutch operator KLM, with its low-cost carrier, Buzz, is cutting 2700 jobs, Mr Webster and Mr Haji-Ioannou are adding Amsterdam as their fourth European hub, after Luton, Liverpool and Geneva.

To rub salt into KLM's wounds, easyJet also plans to become the Dutch low-cost carrier.

- NZPA