Surprise, surprise: Airbus CEO Tom Enders is to be the new chief executive of the European airframer’s parent group EADS, succeeding Louis Gallois, who is due to step down—at the end of his mandate—after the company’s annual general meeting on May 31. Of course, there is really no surprise at all in the January 26 announcement of the EADS board. Enders has been widely identified for the top job in the European aerospace and defense industry for more than a year.
But that hasn’t stopped a changeover process that the EADS board says has been “prepared diligently” descending into unnecessary doubt and delay. And the reason for the fuss? Why, politics of course. EADS’s customers likely don’t care whether the group’s leaders come from Mars or Mauritius, but this is the house that politics built and so it’s ultimate main stakeholders—the governments of France, Germany and Spain—get to play poker to settle the national balance of power within the group.
Charles Alcock is managing editor of the AIN Media Group, having rejoined the company in 2019. He has been an aviation journalist since 1986, and previously worked for AIN from 1990 to 2017, most recently as editor-in-chief. His main focus is on covering new aviation technology and business models, as well as international news.
Having been raised in the London area, Alcock studied at the University of Manchester in the UK and earned an honors degree in Politics and Modern History. He speaks English and French, and some German.
