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The board could announce a decision within weeks, ahead of its
end-year target, as the European planemaker juggles a trio of
pressures from management changes, industrial delays and a
paralyzing corruption probe, they said.
Airbus <AIR.PA> declined comment.
Faury, 50, was appointed head of the core planemaking business
last December after Fabrice Bregier agreed to quit following a
power battle with Enders, in a shake-up that also saw Enders
draw back from plans to seek a third term in 2019.
The main external candidate, Thales <TCFP.PA> Chief Executive
Patrice Caine, is reluctant to leave the French defense company
but could do so if asked to by the French government, reports
say.
The timing of the transition was not immediately clear, but two
sources familiar with Airbus said it had not been excluded that
Faury would become CEO as early as this year, advancing plans
for a May 2019 handover.
The board could make a final decision by a Nov 13 meeting.
Enders plans to step down when his mandate expires in May after
launching the company's digital transformation. His former rival
Bregier was named on Friday as head of the French unit of
Palantir, the U.S. data analytics firm powering that strategy.
INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS
Faury, who accompanied the board this week to China, has been
seen as the top internal candidate to replace Enders since
Bregier's exit. Pressure to end uncertainty grew with the
resignation of the Airbus sales chief this month.
Faury has had less than a year to establish himself at the main
business after previously running helicopters.
"He has won his spurs at Airbus (Commercial Aircraft). He is an
industrialist who knows the issues and technology," a source
familiar with the discussions said.
The soft-spoken, frugal French engineer will nonetheless have to
tackle industrial problems that could weigh on cash generation
and the pace of further production increases.
Besides delays on the A320neo plane, Airbus now faces a rash of
quality problems as a new assembly line beds down in Germany,
prompting Faury to tell staff this month that it risked losing
customer confidence, according to a person with knowledge of the
matter. Quality problems can add costs and further delays.
Shares in Airbus, whose main rival is Boeing <BA.N>, were down
0.7 percent at 108.12 euros on Friday, although they remain near
record highs as production targets so far remain intact.
Faury will also need to restore morale shattered by a probe into
the use of middlemen, now in its third year and which has left
management sidelined as the board pilots the inquiry.
If confirmed, his hiring could eventually herald changes in the
board, where French chairman Denis Ranque retires in 2020.
Airbus usually divides chairman and CEO jobs between French and
German nationals, though the ability of Paris and Berlin
governments to influence that balance openly was halted in 2013.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
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