Dive Brief:
- Airbus Americas CEO and Chairman Jeffrey Knittel is retiring effective June 3, the aircraft maker announced last week.
- Former JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes will succeed Knittel in the chief executive role next month. Hayes will oversee and coordinate the Netherlands-based company’s commercial aircraft, space and defense businesses in North America, the manufacturer said in the release.
- Knittel, who has served as Airbus Americas CEO since 2018, will stay on through the leadership transition period, the company said.
Dive Insight:
Hayes brings 35 years of experience in the commercial airline industry.
He served as JetBlue’s CEO from February 2015 until his retirement in February of this year, according to a January Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Hayes also held various executive positions while at the airline company, including president and chief commercial officer. Before joining JetBlue, he served as EVP for the Americas at British Airways and held several operational and commercial positions during his 19 years at the company.
“I am delighted to welcome Robin to Airbus,” Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said in a statement. “Together with the leadership team we’re looking forward to having Robin and his vast industry experience onboard to further deliver on our strategic objectives for the region across all the Airbus businesses and further grow our North American footprint.”
When Hayes takes over on June 3, he will oversee 10,000 Airbus employees across 50 sites in North America. The sites include a commercial aircraft plant and an engineering center in Mobile, Alabama, a procurement team at its North American headquarters in Herndon, Virginia, a helicopter assembly facility in Columbus, Mississippi, and an engineering center in Wichita, Kansas.
The European defense contractor invests $15 billion yearly with over 2,000 suppliers in over 40 states, according to the Airbus’ news release. One of those suppliers is Spirit AeroSystems, which it shares with competitor Boeing.
Boeing and Airbus have been in discussions to acquire the fuselage supplier, which makes the deal complicated now that its competitor is involved, Boeing CFO Brian West said in an earnings call last week.
Spirit AeroSystems and Airbus plan to ramp up the discussions in the coming days, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.
“We are working together to secure the sourcing of the Airbus work packages that they are responsible for today,” Faury said in an earnings call last week. “This includes the support from our teams to define a more sustainable way forward, both operationally and financially.”
Boeing’s issues have also indirectly affected Airbus’s supply chain, Faury said.
“The uncertainty and the changes of assumption and rate coming from the competitor is putting additional stress and challenges onto the supply chain,” Faury said. “And some of the suppliers are coming to us. So we see this knock-on effect.”
