Airbus Group CTO Jean Botti leaves the company

• Will pursue new career opportunity outside aerospace after successful decade as CTO
• Jean Botti climbed the ranks of the aviation industry as the “father of electric flight”
• Succession is subject to a comprehensive review of the Group’s innovation, R&T set-up

AMSTERDAM, 29-Jan-2016 — /EuropaWire/ — Airbus Group (stock exchange symbol: AIR) Chief Technical Officer Jean Botti, 58, will leave the company in April to pursue a new career opportunity outside of the aerospace industry. Airbus Group Chief Executive Officer Tom Enders has accepted his resignation.

“Jean Botti aspires to add another chapter to his long and distinguished career. After a successful decade at the helm of our Corporate Technical Office and in the Group’s top management, I have accepted his personal wish to leave – even if I regret his decision,” said Airbus Group CEO Tom Enders. “Jean has been and is a great innovator, change manager and a true technological visionary. He will demonstrate these unique abilities also with his future employer. Clearly, Jean has made his entry into the history books of aviation as the ‘father of electric flight’.”

Jean Botti joined the Group in May 2006 from Delphi Corporation in Troy, Michigan. Since then, he has pushed Airbus Group forward on the path of innovation in various areas and through many initiatives. Botti’s perhaps most well-known initiative, the E-Fan all-electric aircraft, is a pioneering project for which he has received many international awards – most recently being bestowed with the prestigious “Pro Pilot Award” for the “Best Aviation Technical Development of the Year 2015” at the 13th Annual Living Legends Of Aviation Awards in Los Angeles.

Jean Botti started his professional life in 1978 as a product engineer with automotive company Renault. He is a 1986 graduate of I.N.S.A. Toulouse with a Master’s degree in mechanical engineering. He also earned a Master’s degree in business administration from Central Michigan University in 1991. In 1995, he received a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers in Paris.

Botti’s succession is subject to the outcome of a comprehensive review on the future set-up and structure for innovation and Research & Technology at Airbus Group. The review’s objective is to define a new mission and perimeter for the future Corporate Technical Office function.

About Airbus Group
Airbus Group is a global leader in aeronautics, space and related services. In 2014, the Group – comprising Airbus, Airbus Defence and Space and Airbus Helicopters – generated revenues of € 60.7 billion and employed a workforce of around 138,600.

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SOURCE: Airbus Group