Airbus second-in-command Gustav Humbert is likely to become the next head of the European airplane maker in an apparent resolution of a Franco-German succession row, French newspaper La Tribune said on Friday.
EADS co-Chairman Manfred Bischoff met with French Finance Minister Thierry Breton in Thursday in Paris, as well as with fellow EADS co-Chairman Arnaud Lagardere, whose media group Lagardere owns 15 percent of EADS, La Tribune said.
The aim of the visit was to make peace between the French and German camps over the future leadership of Airbus, the newspaper said. Humbert's nomination is now "very likely" barring a last-minute turnaround, the newspaper said.
Airbus head Noel Forgeard's promotion to co-chief executive of Airbus parent EADS has set off a fight between EADS's French and German owners over his successor, which has reached the government level given Airbus's role as an industrial and defense asset.
Humbert, Airbus's chief operating officer, is likely to be officially nominated on June 1, the paper said. He has been considered among possible successors.
Airbus declined to comment. EADS was not immediately available in France.
Airbus recently launched the world's biggest passenger airplane, the double-decker A380.
EADS, which owns 80 percent of Airbus, was formed from a 2000 merger of French, German and Spanish aerospace interests. Britain's BAE Systems owns the other 20 percent.
EADS is controlled on the German side by carmaker DaimlerChrysler with a 30.2 percent stake and on the French side by the government with 15.1 percent and Lagardere with 15.1 percent.
Its success has been underpinned by a balance of executive power with a pair of chairmen, two chief executives and two main shareholders — in each case, one French and one German — and reporting lines that join together both nationalities.
Forgeard is French, and Humbert is German.
