Apparently, the chief executive at EasyJet, Andy Harrison, said that he is going to quit the airline in June after four years. After leaving the airline Mr Harrison hopes to seek out new challenges to take part in.

According to reports, Andy Harrison will stay in post for the next six months to give the budget airline time to find a replacement for him. This news came from a statement that was delivered from the board on December 8^th.

Recently, Andy Harrison has come under strong fire from the founder and shareholder Sir Stelios Haji Ioannou, who has made no secret of the fact that he is unhappy with the airline’s strategy. Sir Stelios has been urging Mr Harrison to rein in expansion and stop ordering so many planes and launching new routes during a period of falling demand.

Just last month, easyJet released full year profit figures, which saw a 65 percent year on year plunge to the end of September, and warned of a tough winter ahead. Profits began to fall from £123.1 million last year to £43.7 million in the 12 months to September 30. A lot of this fall was caused by a £98.5 million bill for unhedged fuel.

easyJet went on to say in a statement that Andy Harrison, the chief executive officer, has indicated his desire to leave the company to seek new challenges. Sir Michael Rake will take over for Sir David Michaels as the group’s chairman on January 1^st, 2010, when Sir David will become the senior independent director. Harrison said in a statement that EasyJet is a great company with a strong management team and will continue to grow from strength to strength.