EADS to Airbus

It’s official. From 1^st of January the Airbus group will simply be called Airbus, the name of the department that generates nearly 70% of its global turnover. Since EADS’ creation (European aerospace and defence group) in the year 2000, a lot of people have thought of Airbus as its new name. But it has taken 16 years to get there. It has come a long way since 2007 and the end of the Franco-German board of directors.

Since his nomination as CEO in 2012, Tom Enders has been forging ahead: he’s reduced the influence of the French and German states in the group, moved the Airbus Group headquarters to Toulouse (south-western France), and generally reorganised the whole outfit.

With the latest decision announced on 30^th September, he is further accelerating the group’s transformation. His aims: to simplify the running of the company and to optimise its efficiency. It’s a structural ironing out that will get rid of redundancies. All that remains to find out is when, who with and how.

Next year, Airbus will be made up of three main branches: Commercial aviation, Helicopters, Defence and Space. Not so different in its make-up to Boeing. With one small nuance, Boeing originates from a surname – that of its founder. Airbus is rather a brand, created in 1970.