Airbus braces for more management shake up

It follows CEO and chief financial officer already confirming their departures

Airbus SE is preparing for another round of management shake-up, after overhauling most of its senior executive line-up.

The European plane maker is considering changes in key sales positions reporting to new commercial chief Christian Scherer, including several occupied by veterans who worked under long-time sales head John Leahy. A final decision on changes hasn’t been made.

The moves would extend a painful leadership transition further down Airbus’s ranks, two years after the Toulousebased company disclosed irregularities in its use of middlemen to help secure lucrative aircraft contracts.

CEO Tom Enders and chief financial officer Harald Wilhelm are preparing to step down in April, while Fabrice Bregier, former head of the main jetliner business and once viewed as Enders’ heir apparent, left earlier this year. Airbus is to be run by Bregier’s replacement, former helicopters chief Guillaume Faury.

The moves being contemplated under Scherer would inject fresh blood into an operation that, along with the wider Airbus group, has been left shaken by investigations.

While Airbus has fallen behind rival Boeing in orders this year, both have amassed record order books driven by rapid passenger growth. Airbus’s close to 7,400 aircraft orders will keep production lines ticking for the next nine years.

Airbus told UK and French agencies in 2016 that it had uncovered undisclosed payments to third-party agents involved in deals for hundreds of aircraft. The revelations forced the plane manufacturer to revamp its top leadership, made more difficult by the ongoing probes.