France
Airbus is the second largest aerospace and defense company in the entire world, second only to Boeing. It is currently registered in the Netherlands and is traded in Spain, Germany, and France. The company is hailed for creating high-quality military and civil aerospace products.
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This company is the result of consolidation that happened in the European aerospace industry. Airbus was established in 2000, but not named until 2017. It is the result of multiple companies being merged in January 2017.
Before the parent company was made in 2017, Airbus consisted of European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company NV, Airbus Group, and Airbus Group NV. After the subsidiary, the company was called Airbus Industrie GIE from 1970 to 2001 and then Airbus SAS from 2001 to 2017.
The modern product line began with the A300, which was the first twin aisle and engine aircraft. After the success of this civilian aircraft, Airbus produced the A310 and A320, which is still considered to be a huge commercial success to this day.
Their A380 is the largest airliner and boasts a maximum of 853 seats.
There have been some allegations of bribery with Airbus. In 2012, there was a criminal investigation into one of their subsidiaries, GPT Special Project Management, Ltd. The allegation stated that luxury cars and money were given to companies to secure a contract to renew a certain military telecommunications network.
Another problem that Airbus has faced in the past was due to insider trading. The CEO Gustav Humbert resigned on June 2, 2006 following a controversy regarding a delay of A380 deliveries. He and other execs are still under investigation if they knew about the delay, causing a fall in shares.
Airbus aircrafts are known for being relatively safe, but there have been some crashes in the past. There have been 118 incidents and accidents for the entire A320 family of aircraft. The most recent was on December 23, 2016, when all 66 people who were on board the flight died.
One of the A319s was diverted off course due to an emergency on May 14, 2018. The problem occurred when a cockpit windshield blew off while the plane was ascending to cruising altitude, causing one of the panels to fly out. Luckily, only the copilot and a cabin crew member were injured.
The corporate headquarters of Airbus is Leiden, Netherlands, although the main office is located in France, in Toulouse.
The main civil airplane business is currently based in Blagnac, France. The production and the manufacturing facilities are mostly located in the European Union, although there are some locations that are also in the United States and in China.
The final assembly of these planes is in France, Germany, Spain, China, and Alabama.
Not only is Airbus known for manufacturing commercial airliners, but also passenger airliners, as well as military aircraft. They are known for focusing on aerial refueling, as well as tactical airlift.
In 1999, Airbus created Airbus Military SAS, a separate company that they used to develop and to produce a tactical transport aircraft known as the Airbus Military A400M. This aircraft is being developed by several members of NATO, but has been the victim of a number of delays.
In 2014, Airbus and Aerion partnered together to work on creating the Aerion AS2. This supersonic private business jet seats 11 and should hopefully hit the market in 2021.
Airbus announced in June of 2013 that they were going to develop smart suitcases geared towards air travelers. These cases not only boast a number of built-in electronics that sync to a smartphone app, but also make it easier for travelers to handle baggage handling and GPS.
The latest published number of employees in 2018 was reported to be 133,671.
CEO Guillaume Faury is the leader of Airbus, and in April 2019 he appointed a New Executive Committee. These changes were effective immediately and changed the top leaders in the company. Dominik Asam is now the CFO, with Thierry Baril the Chief HR Officer and Jean-Brice Dumont the Executive VP of Engineering.
