EADS is now "Airbus" It is official, the European aerospace, defense and space group has changed its name. As part of a broad structural reorganization plan, EADS will take the name of its subsidiary "Airbus". Here is an interview with the Director of Strategy and Group Marketing, which will be followed up by a full report... EADS is changing. During a press breakfast this morning at the group's headquarters in Paris, Marwan Lahoud, Marketing Director, presented the new organization of the European aerospace giant. New name, new internal divisions, new image: Marwan Lahoud unveiled the Airbus group strategy. Marwan Lahoud, Director: Airbus Group Strategy and Marketing:- "The name change is actually a desire to integrate the group, and to achieve that, there is nothing better than the brand name; when you have 140,000 employees who belong to the same entity, and with the same name printed on their business cards; it’s very powerful. So we had a choice, either we invented a new name, or we took one of the existing group names. The Airbus brand name is undoubtedly the most powerful of the group. The choice was not difficult, and so we opted for Airbus. Airbus Group: Airbus, Airbus Defense Space; we had a moment of hesitation in saying the Eurocopter brand is important. The choice of the transformation of Eurocopter into Airbus Helicopters emanated from the desire of its current C.E.O. William Fori, and one which he wishes to instill in his team." Regarding the structural aspect, what will change? "In very simple terms, in a stable or declining market, it’s necessary to consolidate, eliminate internal friction, internal competition, regroup and come together to be stronger. And so the consolidation of Airbus, defense and space is aimed at improving market access and cost reductions. When we improve market access we improve turnover, when costs are reduced we have better profitability; and so we have decided on the performance improvement path." The structure now looks much more like that of Boeing, was it done on purpose? "I remember aerospace in the 90’s, there was already a defense / space branch, so we didn’t invent anything new, and neither did Boeing, the relationship between defense and space activities is well known, it was already being used in the old organizations." Was the Franco-German double-headed structure simply dropped? "Those who do not understand that in the EADS group we no longer talk about passports, have not yet assimilated the changes that have occurred in the group over the last 12 months" What are the objectives of the consolidation of the defense entity with that of space? "There are synergies between defense and space, for instance, one of the units of the new division, that of the communication, systems and services unit, was created by the merger of defense and space activities; the other unit, which is equipment, electronics in fact, was also formed by the merger between the two entities, and there, strong operational synergies also exist, which we intend to take advantage of. What is on the agenda and the cost of this rebranding? "The agenda is very simple. The designated team will define the project in the autumn, and the project should be subject to consultation with our social partners. On 1st., January 2014, there will be block transfers that will result in a change in lines of comunication; so the division will be 'under construction'. Then, when the staff consultations have been completed, we should, in principle, be active from 1st; July 2014.»