Stelios says he won't be launching a buyout - yet

Easyjet shares slipped 4% to 144p on the news, leaving them far from their 2002 peak of more than 500p.

A combination of fierce competition, high oil prices and a recent profit warning have hit the firm's shares.

But Mr Haji-Ioannou said taking the company private would be "something of an extreme measure".

Shareholder protection

The entrepreneur said there were "many other steps" before considering going private and pledged to work with the board to protect shareholder value.

However, Mr Haji-Ioannou added that if the share price was to continue to fall "we would obviously be free to take a different line".

Taking it private would be an extreme measure Stelios Haji-Ioannou, founder of Easyjet Easyjet share price

Easygroup and members of the Haji-Ioannou family own a total of about 41% of the shares in Easyjet.

With his fingers in several pies within the Easygroup empire, Mr Haji-Ioannou has been selling shares in Easyjet to fund other projects since he stepped down as chairman at the airline in 2002.

Competition in the low-cost airline market is proving tough and Easyjet has launched new services, particularly in Germany, to improve performance.

But passenger numbers are still rising rapidly at the carrier. Last June the airline carried 2.24 million passengers, up 28% on the same period a year ago and 7% higher than May's figure.