The comments on this story in the Seattle times make a lot of disparaging comparisons of the "21st century MBAs leading Boeing" versus the industry-savy, aerospace-experienced engineer/fighter pilot American heading up Airbus' US efforts. I don't fly as much as I used to, but in the future, given a choice, I'll fly on an Airbus plane, not Boeing.
http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2021226174_airshowmcartorxml.html
LE BOURGET, France — Airbus lost the long and contentious bidding to build an aerial-refueling tanker for the U.S. Air Force, but Airbus Americas chairman Allan McArtor asserts there are signs that Boeing will stumble and give its rival a renewed opportunity. “I think we’ll get another shot at it,” said McArtor in an interview at the Paris Air Show Wednesday.
He also said that Airbus, which has U.S. engineering centers in Wichita, Kan., and Mobile, Ala., is likely to add two more in the next decade and will seriously consider locating one in Washington state. “We are attracted to Washington state for the same reason we were attracted to Wichita. That’s where the talent is,” he said. “If you want to have access to the talent that developed over the last 100 years of aviation, Washington is very fertile ground.”
Those startling ideas came from Airbus’ top man in America, who has probably the most exceptional aviation résumé of any aerospace executive in the U.S. A highly decorated combat-fighter pilot in Vietnam, he was an associate professor of engineering at the Air Force Academy, then flew as a pilot in the Air Force Thunderbirds flying-display team.
Afterward, he headed air operations at FedEx, and under President Reagan he was head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for two years. Immediately before joining Airbus, he was chief executive of Legend Airlines, a regional carrier out of Dallas.
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