A spokesman for Easyjet said that the airline was not looking for a taxpayer bailout

Easyjet will go ahead with a £174 million dividend payout to shareholders despite appealing for taxpayer support.

The airline said that it might need lines of credit or loans from the government to cope with the coronavirus crisis. It insisted last night, however, that this would not affect the payout, £60 million of which will go to its founder, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou.

Easyjet gave no indication that it would ask those investors to help the business.

Including the latest dividend, the airline has made shareholder payouts of more than £1.8 billion since 2012. Of that dividend bonanza, in which the company is committed to paying 50 per cent of its earnings to shareholders, Sir Stelios, 53, and his family interests have received nearly £650 million.