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Airbus CEO Christian Streiff resigned Oct. 9, only three months after he took the position July 2. He came on board in the wake of previous bad news for Airbus, including the announcement of the second major delay in the flagship A380 superjumbo and the insider-trading scandal that brought down his predecessor.
The resignation is not so much an indication of Streiff's failings as an indication of the inherent structural flaws of the Airbus behemoth.
Streiff was brought in to fix Airbus' problems. Three months later, he apparently became convinced the task was impossible. Streiff complained Oct. 10 in the French daily Le Figaro that he was not allowed the "necessary operational powers" to do the job effectively. Streiff also noted resistance among "certain shareholders" to necessary cuts.
Airbus is no ordinary company. A European conglomeration literally designed and run by committee, Airbus' parent company, the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. (EADS), has two co-CEOs -- one French, one German. The setup is designed to prevent either country from monopolizing the direction of EADS. This structure, however, also discourages individual leaders from implementing sweeping reforms, which made it impossible for Streiff to cut jobs and streamline the long chain of inefficiencies built into Airbus.
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