Faury to replace Brégier as Airbus President – CEO Enders to leave in 2019

As further fallout from current fraud investigations in to Europe’s biggest plane maker, Airbus is set to undergo a significant transformation at senior level. Fabrice Brégier has announced he will be leaving the company in February next year, his role as President will be taken by Frenchman Guillaume Faury, currently CEO of Airbus Helicopters.
The departure of Brégier will leave current Chief Executive Tom Enders a free hand until April 2019, when he will step down. Enders had expressed interest in remaining in his current post, but has accepted that in light of the company’s current plan of action to rid it from the cloud of corruption hanging over it, there needs to be a predominantly new board in place, saying that his departure clears the way for “fresh minds for the 2020s.”
Analysts have said that the push for a fresh start had curtailed the ambitions of both executives, ending a longstanding but troubled partnership at the helm of Airbus.
Enders in 2014 froze payments to middlemen and later shared an audit revealing misleading filings with UK authorities, but has seen his authority challenged as the discovery triggered UK and French fraud investigations and a backlash in France.
The company has also indicated that the board had acted to secure an orderly succession, and that during 2018, it will look both inside and outside for a successor to Enders “in good time” for confirmation at the 2019 annual shareholder meeting.
The shake-up has come came after Brégier, who has long been seen as the natural heir to Enders, told the board he did not intend to be part of the selection process for 2019 and would step down in February to “pursue other interests” – which is widely felt as confirmation that he had not been shortlisted for the role being vacated by Enders.