Unless you’re from the Caribbean or Colombia, you may not have heard about a very small carrier called EZAir.
Founded in 2000, the Bonaire-based airline operates flights to Curacao, Aruba, and Colombia. They operate a fleet of three Saab 340s, as well as two Learjet medivac aircraft.
Unfortunately, they have been forced to change their brand name after being threatened with legal action from EasyGroup Limited after being accused of infringing on the group’s intellectual property rights. In the complaint, the conglomerate also demanded that EZAir stop selling tickets to European and American citizens and nationals flying to and from Colombia.
EasyGroup Limited (easyGroup) has partial ownership of the popular British low cost airline easyJet. They also owns a variety of smaller brands including easyBus, easyCoffee, easyGym, just ot name a few.
René Winkel, EZAir’s CEO acknowledged that a name change and relevant rebranding will be coming soon. He said that while he does not agree with the action, his company does not have the financial resources to take on such a large conglomerate and will concede by changing the carrier’s name instead.
In a statement to Aruba.nu (via Luchtvaartnieuws.nl), he said:
“Obviously we do not agree with the position of easyGroup. However, we are a relatively small regional carrier and we cannot afford to take years of legal action with a very wealthy group, while the outcome of that struggle is uncertain.
“The easyGroup is a very wealthy group with a huge capacity and for that we as a local player are simply not a party.”
The carrier also plans to launch an entirely new website booking engine, but Winkel said this will take some time and will be launched some time after the rebranding excercise is complete.
This is not the first time that easyGroup has taken legal action against airlines using names with similar spelling or pronunciation. After an almost five-year legal dispute with EasyFly, the Colombian-based airline announced in July 2023 that it has lost the battle in court and changed its name to Clic a month later.
[Featured Photo: EZAir]
