Guillaume Faury is a French engineer and executive currently working as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for aircraft manufacturer Airbus.
Working at Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) for ten years, Faury was the chief engineer of the EC225/H225, being responsible for the heavy helicopter flight tests. He eventually became the executive vice-president for research and development (R&D). In 2010, Faury became executive vice-president for research and development at car maker Peugeot.[1]
In March 2013 Faury replaced Lutz Bertling as the CEO of Airbus Helicopters.[1] As the new CEO, he faced the H225 crash in Norway, killing all thirteen people onboard and grounding all H225 helicopters used in North Sea oil exploitation for a 15-month period. The sale of the helicopter model to the Polish Armed Forces was cancelled. Faury restructured the X4 program leading to the H160 medium helicopter development to be introduced in 2019, and launched the X6 development for a fly-by-wire successor to the Super Puma. He began significant R&D programs like the high-speed X3 Racer and the CityAirbus program.[2]
He replaced Fabrice Brégier as Airbus Commercial Aircraft COO from February 2018.[1] On 8 October 2018, the Airbus Board of Directors selected him to succeed Tom Enders as Airbus CEO, starting from 10 April 2019.[3] Faury will have to shape Airbus' response to the Boeing New Midsize Airplane, face A320neo production and operational challenges, complete A400M negotiations and address slower-selling models like the A330neo.[4]
The Airbus Group is a European multinational aerospace and defence corporation registered in the Netherlands and a defence and military contractor worldwide. The group consists of the three business divisions Airbus,Airbus Defence and Space, and Airbus Helicopters.[6]
The company was originally formed as the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) on 10 July 2000 by the merger of Aérospatiale-Matra, DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (DASA), andConstrucciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA). In January 2014, EADS was reorganised as Airbus Group combining the divisions for development and marketing of civil and military aircraft, as well as communications systems, missiles, space rockets, helicopters, satellites, and related systems.