Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, one of the most flamboyant European entrepreneurs of the past decade, is seeking to wrest back influence over EasyJet amid a growing boardroom dispute at the low-cost airline.

Sir Stelios has fallen out with the EasyJet board over the airline’s strategic direction and is pushing the company, his most successful creation, to be much more cautious in the face of the growing crisis in the global airline industry.