Airbus SE
Leadership History
4 leaders · 2005 to present
Guillaume Faury is the CEO of Airbus, in the role since 2019. The first chief executive was Noël Forgeard, from 2005.
| Name | Role | From | To | Years in role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guillaume Faury | Chief Executive Officer | 2019 | Present | 7 |
| Tom Enders | Chief Executive Officer | 2012 | 2019 | 7 |
| Louis Gallois | Chief Executive Officer, EADS | 2007 | 2012 | 5 |
| Noël Forgeard | Co-Chief Executive Officer, EADS | 2005 | 2006 | 1 |
Airbus SE is incorporated in the Netherlands and registered in Leiden. Its principal operational office is in Toulouse-Blagnac, France. The group operates commercial aircraft, Helicopters, and Defence and Space businesses. The company is headquartered in Toulouse, France and Leiden, Netherlands.
Airbus earns revenue from commercial aircraft and related services, civil and military helicopters, and defence and space products and services. Aircraft revenue depends on contract performance and deliveries; orders and backlog indicate contracted demand but are not revenue.
Chief Executive Officer
2019 – Present
7 years (current)
Faury successfully navigated the catastrophic collapse of global aviation during the COVID-19 pandemic, aggressively managing cash burn while pushing the ramp-up of the highly successful A321neo.
As CEO, he secured Airbus's absolute dominance in the single-aisle market, capitalizing heavily on Boeing's ongoing 737 MAX crises to capture unprecedented market share.
Chief Executive Officer
2012 – 2019
7 years
Enders made the brutal but necessary decision to officially cancel the A380 superjumbo program following years of massive financial losses and a complete lack of airline demand.
He aggressively integrated the fragmented European subsidiaries into a single, cohesive corporate entity, standardizing the company's name to simply 'Airbus'.
Chief Executive Officer, EADS
2007 – 2012
5 years
Gallois implemented the 'Power8' restructuring program in 2007, cutting 10,000 jobs across Europe to offset the massive financial damage caused by the disastrous delays of the A380.
As CEO, he stabilized the company during extreme internal political turmoil and successfully launched the A350 XWB program to combat the Boeing 787.
Co-Chief Executive Officer, EADS
2005 – 2006
1 year
Forgeard drove the ambitious and wildly expensive launch of the A380 double-decker aircraft, severely misjudging the market's shift toward point-to-point twin-engine flying.
He was forced to resign in 2006 following catastrophic wiring issues that delayed the A380 and triggered a massive collapse in EADS (Airbus parent) stock.
Airbus identifies supply-chain disruption, programme execution, foreign exchange, tariffs, customer and supplier performance, certification, competition, and legal or geopolitical developments among its risks.
Guillaume Faury.
10 April 2019.
Guillaume Faury serves as the CEO of Airbus, having previously run the massive Airbus Commercial Aircraft division.
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