Easyjet founder wins libel battle against Ryanair

EASYJET founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou accepted undisclosed libel damages today over Ryanair advertisements which accused him of lying.

• Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou (right) who accepted undisclosed High Court libel damages from Ryanair and its chief executive Michael O'Leary (left)

Sir Stelios brought proceedings in London's High Court over the adverts which appeared in The Guardian, the Daily Telegraph and on Ryanair's website in January and February.

The adverts concerned the flight on-time statistics of easyJet plc, which had not been published on the airline's website for 37 weeks.

They featured a picture of Sir Stelios distorted so that his nose was elongated in the style of Pinocchio and referred to him as "easyJet's – Mr Late Again".

They called on Sir Stelios to "stop hiding the truth" about easyJet's flight delays and resume publishing details of its on-time performance.

Sir Stelios's solicitor, Chris Scott, told Mr Justice Eady that Ryanair and chief executive Michael O'Leary had made a complete offer to settle the claim and fully accepted that Sir Stelios did not lie about the matter.

They had unreservedly apologised and agreed to pay him damages and his legal costs.