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Air industry embraces the Easy life

Influential budget carrier easyJet marks first decade

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Entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou founded easyJet ten years ago.

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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Ten years ago this month, low-cost carrier easyJet waved off its first commercial flight from Britain's Luton airport, sparking an air industry revolution that has had a major impact on the business travel sector.

While the idea of boarding easyJet'sexternal link no-frills aircraft may send shivers down the spine of executives more used to champagne, canapés and legroom, the company has emerged as an unlikely player in the world of corporate travel.

Earlier this year, readers of Britain's Business Traveller magazine voted the EasyJet the "best low cost airline" for the seventh year running, recognizing the carrier's services between mainstream European airports in addition to key holiday routes.

"No frills, low-cost, short-haul flying has become the norm, not the exception," easyJet's founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou told CNN in an interview to mark his first decade in the air.

Fueling the trend have been the dozens of imitators that sprang up in easyJet's wake, not least in Asia where Malaysian entrepreneur Tony Fernandes has dominated the skies with his burgeoning AirAsia operation.

Haji-Ioannu is happy to take credit for forging a winning business model where others, notably Freddie Laker's eponymous carrier that collapsed in 1982 amid financial troubles.

"It is interesting that even post 9/11, more than 50 so-called low-cost airlines sprang up in Europe," he said.

"This is a tribute to the success of the easyJet business model although, as soft capital has been during up, not all of those start-ups are in business."

EasyJet's orange-liveried aircraft have become a familiar site in the skies over Europe as the airline has expanded its routes from two to 224 over the past 10 years. It now operates 110 aircraft and carries more than 30 million passengers annually.

In 2002, it asserted its dominance by acquiring low-cost rival Go, originally set up by British Airways.

Despite asserting its market dominance with the 2002 acquisition of low-cost rival Go, originally set up by British Airways, Haji-Ioannou says the airline will restrict itself to budget travel, seeing no prospect in more traditional short-haul operations.

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The no-frills airline has emerged as an unlikely hit with business travelers.

"The 'conventional' business model has been rendered obsolete in the short-haul market and long-haul is sufficiently different to be almost an entirely different business," he said.

"Anyway, I have an agreement with easyJet that I will not set up a competing airline."

Nevertheless, the carrier is looking at ways at pulling in greater numbers of "conventional" airline passengers, including business travelers, as it tries to maintain its position in an industry struggling with high fuel costs.

It is reportedly finalizing plans to allow business travel agencies such as Expedia to have direct access to its reservation system and mulling executive-friendly measures such as lounge access, priority check in and allocated seating.

"Easyjet is a plc with external shareholders and it has an established business plan. For both these reasons, it should be more risk averse than the other 14 easyGroup companies, which are still private," he said, referring to that includes car hire, Internet cafes and hotels.

"Consequently, easyJet should continue to do more of the same -- fly more passengers to more destinations at high frequency and low prices."

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