Airbus has appointed Dominik Asam, 49, to succeed Harald Wilhelm, 52, as chief financial officer in April.

Asam, currently chief financial officer of Munich-based Infineon Technologies, will join Airbus on April 1st ensuring a smooth handover with Wilhelm, who will remain in his current role until the annual general meeting on April 10th.

“We are very pleased to have Dominik Asam joining Airbus as chief financial officer.

“Dominik is one of the most highly rated chief financial officers of the German DAX30.

“He has an outstanding professional background and he will, no doubt, be a great wingman for Guillaume Faury, who will succeed me at the helm of Airbus next spring,” said Tom Enders, chief executive officer of Airbus.

As chief financial officer, Asam will report to future chief executive Faury and become a member of the Airbus executive committee.

Faury, currently president Airbus Commercial Aircraft, said: “I am very much looking forward to working with Dominik to continue improving our company’s financial performance.

“A finance expert with an engineering and wide industrial background is a great choice for this mission.”

Michael Schöllhorn

At the same time, Airbus has appointed Michael Schöllhorn, 53, to the role of chief operating officer for Airbus Commercial Aircraft.

He will take up that role on February 1st.

Schöllhorn, currently chief operating officer for BSH Home Appliances in Munich, will succeed Tom Williams, 66, who retires December 31st after 50 years in the aerospace industry, 19 of which were in top Airbus management positions.

“Michael brings a vast amount of expertise in digitalisation, end-to-end process optimisation, manufacturing, quality and supply chain management – key assets to transition our company to the next levels of production efficiency,” said Guillaume Faury, president Airbus Commercial Aircraft.

“Michael’s leadership will be crucial for the future success of Airbus.”

Schöllhorn will also report to Faury who will succeed Enders as Airbus chief executive following the shareholders meeting on April 10th.

Enders said: “We are glad to welcome Michael, and we bid farewell to Tom Williams, a great personality and leader both in Airbus and the wider European aerospace industry for many years.

“Tom braved countless challenges during his time with Airbus, always overcoming them in the best interest of the company and its customers, and never losing his dry Scottish humour.”