Airbus rocked by departure of top engineer

Chief technical officer Jean Botti pursues new career outside of the aerospace industry

European planemaker Airbus has been rocked by the resignation of its top engineer.

Chief technical officer Jean Botti, 58, will leave the company in April to pursue a new career opportunity outside of the aerospace industry.

Botti joined Airbus in May 2006 from Delphi Corporation in the US. He is hugely respected within Airbus, having instigated a vigorous programme of sustainable innovation.

Botti’s best-known initiative is probably the E-Fan all-electric aircraft, a pioneering project which has earned him the nickname of “the father of electric flight”.

Airbus chief executive officer Tom Enders said: “After a successful decade at the helm of our corporate technical office and in the Group’s top management, I have accepted Botti’s personal wish to leave – even if I regret his decision.

“He has been and is a great innovator, change manager and a true technological visionary. He will demonstrate these unique abilities also with his future employer. Clearly, Jean has made his entry into the history books of aviation as the ‘father of electric flight’.”

Botti started his professional life in 1978 as a product engineer with automotive company Renault. He is a 1986 graduate of I.N.S.A. Toulouse with a Master’s degree in mechanical engineering. He also earned a Master’s degree in business administration from Central Michigan University in 1991.

In 1995, he received a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers in Paris.

Airbus said Botti’s succession would be subject to the outcome of a comprehensive review on the future set-up and structure for innovation and research and technology at Airbus Group.