Stelios loses his hold on EasyJet after 26 years

Sir Stelios can no longer veto critical decisions by the airline's board after his stake falls to 15.3pc.

The EasyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou has lost his hold on the budget airline he started a quarter of a century ago after raising the company £1.2bn of extra cash.

Sir Stelios's blocking stake has been diluted after he chose not to purchase new shares in a rights issue following a takeover swoop by low-cost rival Wizz Air.

The Greek Cypriot billionaire and his family now own 15.3pc of the airline as a result, down from 25.3pc.

Going under the 25pc threshold means that Sir Stelios cannot veto critical decisions by the board that require the support of three-quarters of shareholders.

The dilution marks a watershed moment for the businessman, who founded EasyJet in 1995, aged 28, with his father's £5m loan. The airline came to prominence when Sir Stelios and his staff starred in the second fly-on-the-wall series Airline in 1998.

EasyJet was later floated on the London Stock Exchange, but the magnate retained around a third of the business until relatively recently.