Charles Champion (born 1955 near

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

), who holds a MSc from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, has been

Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...

Executive Vice President Engineering since 1 April 2010 and a member of the Airbus Executive Committee. After a 1978 graduation from the

École nationale supérieure de l'aéronautique et de l'espace École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

, he obtained a MSc from

. Champion began his aviation career in 1980 as an aerodynamics engineer with

Aérospatiale Aérospatiale (), sometimes styled Aerospatiale, was a French state-owned aerospace manufacturer that built both civilian and military aircraft, rockets and satellites. It was originally known as Société nationale industrielle aérospatiale ( ...

, where he worked in the production department of the aircraft division before heading the single-aisle aircraft assembly team from 1988 to 1992. In 1993 he was appointed Director of Airbus Programmes at Aérospatiale's Paris headquarters, and in 1995 became managing director of the military transport project named

Future Large Aircraft The Airbus A400M AtlasNamed after the Greek mythological figure. is a European four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft. It was designed by Airbus Military (now Airbus Defence and Space) as a tactical airlifter with strategic capabil ...

A400M The Airbus A400M AtlasNamed after the Greek mythological figure. is a European four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft. It was designed by Airbus Military (now Airbus Defence and Space) as a tactical airlifter with strategic capabil ...

. In 1997, Champion joined Airbus as Vice President Sales for Eastern and Southern Europe and the

CIS Cis or cis- may refer to: Places * Cis, Trentino, in Italy * In Poland: ** Cis, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, south-central ** Cis, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, north Math, science and biology * cis (mathematics) (cis(''θ'')), a trigonome ...

. From 1999 to 2000, he served as Product Executive for Airbus Single Aisle Programme. He also served as programme manager for the development of the

Airbus A380 The Airbus A380 is a large wide-body airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and only full-length double-deck jet airliner. Airbus studies started in 1988, and the project was annou ...

until he was removed in 2006 following controversy surrounding successive delays and cost overruns with the A380 program. In 2007, he was appointed Executive Vice President in charge of Customer Services. This was a post he held until April 2010, when he became Executive Vice President Engineering in April 2010. In 2013 he was appointed Chairman, Airbus India, a subsidiary of Airbus.

External links

The Economist

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Champion, Charles 1955 births Living people French aerospace engineers French businesspeople Supaéro alumni Stanford University alumni Airbus people Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur