Airbus recreated the role of CEO of the commercial aircraft division and appointed Christian Scherer as its holder.
The announcement was made on Tuesday, but had been considered for several months. The company’s veteran employee is currently Chief Commercial Officer, a position he has held since 2018.
According to the company, the appointment will take effect from January 1, 2024 and will allow Guillaume Faury, the company’s current CEO, to focus “on the strategic, global and transformational agenda of Airbus”.
The new organizational structure partly resumes the format prior to 2019, when Airbus decided to place all divisions under the same umbrella, with Faury accumulating positions.
This time, however, the commercial aircraft division remains close to other businesses such as Defense and Space and Helicopters.
“Since 2019, the leadership roles of Airbus and its Commercial Aircraft business have been combined, providing alignment and speed of execution during a period of multiple crises and change. Empowering Christian in the Commercial Aircraft CEO role will enable us to reinforce focus on the success of our Commercial Aircraft business while allowing me to dedicate my time to steering Airbus in a complex and fast-evolving global environment,” said Guillaume Faury, Airbus CEO.
Christian and I have been working hand in hand over the last five years and we will continue to do so in this new configuration. I admire Christian’s business acumen and I’m happy to move forward with him to deliver on Airbus’ ambitions.”
“It is an honor and a thrill to be called upon to lead our Commercial Aircraft business at such a critical time for our industry,” said Christian Scherer.
I’ll put my passion and that of Team Airbus at the service of our customers to meet our operational objectives as we work to consolidate our success, continuously improve, and prepare the future of our products and services.
Passage through various positions
Christian Scherer was born in 1962 in the city of Duisburg, Germany, but grew up in Toulouse, France, where Airbus is headquartered.
He joined the company in 1984, assuming the role of Commercial Contracts Manager. Between 1987 and 1994, he was in the USA taking care of the company’s financial and commercial matters.
Upon returning to headquarters, Scherer had a long experience focusing on the leasing market until 2003, when he also became Deputy Head of Commercial.
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He also worked in the areas of strategy and future programs until he became head of marketing at Airbus Defense and Space.
Before taking over as Chief Commercial Officer, Christian was the CEO of ATR between 2016 and 2018.
