Peter Bellew, the former operational director of Ryanair, will be joining competitor easyJet from 1 January. A judge decided that in a case brought by Ryanair.
The Irish price fighter believed that the non-competition clause stipulated that there should be at least one year between the end of his employment with Ryanair and a contract with a competing company. The judge did not agree.
Bellew announced his farewell to Ryanair last summer. He worked for Ryanair for more than ten years when he left for Malaysia Airlines in 2014, where he took the lead.
He had the task of helping the company on top again after two fatal crashes, including the disaster with flight MH17, which had been shot down over Ukraine. In 2017 he returned to Ryanair.
Competitor easyJet announced the transfer of Bellew in July, but Ryanair pointed to its contract and the clause on non-competition. Bellew denied its existence.
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary criticised this. He also accused him of poor performance.