Posted on July 16, 2010 by Fiona Hilliard

Michael O’ Leary was yesterday forced to utter an apology to Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the founder of easyJet for accusing him of being a liar in a series of print advertisements for Ryanair.

You can’t blame Stelios for being annoyed – you would be too if you were portrayed with an elongated nose and a “Pinocchio” caption. And just in case Stelios didn’t get the message loud and clear, there was an added caption that read “Easyjet’s – Mr. Late Again.”

Alongside a half-page apology in the Daily Telegraph and Guardian newspapers, where the adverts appeared earlier this year, O’ Leary was also forced to fork out £50,100 (€60,000).

At a hearing in the High Court in London today, O’ Leary’s lawyers agreed to withdraw the allegations.

In a statement, Stelios said: “It is not very often that someone as arrogant and powerful as O’ Leary is forced to apologise to someone else in public and in writing. I took this legal action to protect my reputation, I am not a liar and that statement was libellous.”

“I would like to dedicate this little victory to all those members of the travelling public who have suffered verbal abuse and hidden extras at the hands of O’ Leary.”

Woo. You go Stelios!