Apollo said it would buy EasyJet. The private equity firm's deal values the British budget carrier at around $7.7 billion and is expected to take it off the public stock market.
Apollo's path opened up after Castlelake withdrew its $7.3 billion offer for EasyJet on Thursday.
As of Aug 7 2026, 8:35 AM EDT, the takeaway for investors was clear: low-cost airlines can attract serious buyout money.
EasyJet shares lost 0.48% on Friday afternoon.
That was a small pullback after closing 2.8% higher the day before.
Jet2 could be next, according to Anna Macdonald, investment strategy director at Hargreaves Lansdown. She said on CNBC's Squawk Box Europe on Friday that Jet2 has "similar dynamics" to EasyJet because both are low-cost carriers.
Macdonald pointed to Jet2's valuation. "Jet2, for example, was trading on a price-to-equity ratio of 6-7 times," she said.
That kind of rebound catches attention.
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Price-to-equity is a measure of what you pay for a stock compared with the company's yearly profit per share. A single-digit ratio can signal a cheap stock, which is exactly what buyout firms look for.
Jet2 shares were up 0.5% on Friday afternoon. Macdonald said the Iran war hurt airlines badly at the start, and recent moves in airline stocks suggest investors expect more buyout offers.
She also said U.K. stock prices trail comparable companies abroad, and that makes London a "fertile hunting ground" for investors and buyout firms.
Macdonald thinks deals involving national flag carriers, the airlines most tied to a country's identity, are harder than budget-airline deals and offer less clear upside.
Jet2 declined to comment. A spokesperson said: "We do not comment on market rumour or speculation."
Macdonald did not sugarcoat the airline business. "It is a tough industry, it's fairly low margin, it's very cyclical... and also highly-regulated," she said.
"Costs can vary a lot, and also demand can vary a lot."
Cyclical means the business swings with the economy. That unpredictability is part of the reason private owners may want to run things differently.
Airlines need a lot of expensive equipment and a lot of cash to keep flying. In private hands, she said, owners might rethink how they pay for all that.
"In a privately-held environment, they may start to think differently about financing to make it less capital intensive, and perhaps that can then feed through to giving consumers better prices," she said.
If that happens, the benefits are not just for shareholders. Cheaper financing could eventually mean cheaper tickets.
The EasyJet deal does not guarantee anyone else gets bought. But it sets a new benchmark for how buyout firms value European budget airlines, and Jet2 sits in that same category.
Macdonald's comment about consumer prices is the quieter part of this story.
For everyday investors, this is not just about one airline. It is about private money changing how investors value a whole corner of the market, and that can show up in your portfolio just as clearly as it shows up in what you pay to fly.
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