"This is a quite remarkable, and really rather sad, change of management," said Agency Partners analyst Sash Tusa. "It is likely in the near term to leave Airbus far more inward-looking than is healthy, with only CFO Harald Wilhelm in post for over 5 years," he added. "Fabrice ... was very popular with airlines for his rapid response and attention to details," Peter Bellew, chief operations officer at Ryanair and former CEO of Malaysia Airlines.Airbus officials denied speculation that Enders had a hand in his deputy's departure and cited an independent board.But analysts said the push for a fresh start had curtailed the ambitions of both executives, ending a troubled partnership at the helm of Airbus. Even so, many saw Enders as clear winner.COLLATERAL DAMAGEEnders in 2014 froze payments to middlemen and later shared an audit revealing misleading filings with UK authorities, but has seen his authority challenged as the discovery triggered UK and French fraud investigations and a backlash in France. But the selection process will remain under scrutiny from investors worried about any return to past efforts by shareholders France or Germany to tilt appointments.

Source: The Star December 15, 2017 16:07 UTC