Damien Proust has been appointed Senior Vice-President Engineering and Head of Design Organisation at ATR, effective May 1, 2026. He will report directly to Chief Executive Nathalie Tarnaud Laude, succeeding Daniel Cuchet, who is moving to Airbus to take up the roles of Chief Engineer for the A380 and A310/300 in-service aircraft, as well as Head of Legacy Programmes.
Proust brings more than 20 years of engineering and leadership experience, largely gained at Airbus. Since 2018, he has served as Vice-President and Head of Propulsion Airframe, with responsibility for the research, development, production and in-service support of pylons and nacelles across all aircraft programmes.
Alongside his Airbus duties, Proust has held wider industry roles, including serving as Technology and Engineering Senior Delegate in France, representing more than 6,300 engineers on social, safety and institutional matters. He is also Vice-President of TOMPASSE, a leading aerospace industry association in south-west France.
Earlier in his career, Proust held several senior positions within the A350 programme, covering fuselage and empennage engineering as well as airframe integration. A graduate of ICAM Toulouse in 1998, he began his professional career as a consultant at Accenture before joining Airbus.
