Can Power8 Recharge Airbus?
Airbus’ reorganization aims to eliminate national silos and increase reliance on outside suppliers. By Aaron Karp Toulouse Air Transport World, August 2007, p.28 SENIOR AIRBUS EXECUTIVES gathered at the manufacturer’s headquarters here earlier this year for a high-level meeting on the revamped A350 XWB. As they discussed how the aircraft would be constructed at sites across Europe, a chart was displayed. EADS CEO and then-Airbus CEO Louis Gallois quickly noticed it contained images of flags denoting France, Germany, Spain and the UK. Gallois, who took the helm of the troubled company last October following the resignations of two CEOs in three months, was not happy. “I said to the people around the table, ‘I don’t want to see flags. To me we’re all Airbus guys’,” he recalled during a dinner with journalists. “I think it’s imperative to overcome national borders because Boeing doesn’t have problems [associated with] national borders. If not, we will become a regional company, not a glob
