Amparo Moraleda turns into the primary Spanish president within the historical past of Airbus | Economy | EUROtoday

The Spanish Amparo Moraleda might be, as of October 1, the primary feminine president of Airbus, as confirmed by firm sources. The board additionally turns into the primary individual to achieve the highest place of accountability of the aeronautical big who doesn’t have French or German nationality since its basis in 1970. “This demonstrates the weight of Spain within Airbus, with an important industrial footprint,” mentioned an organization spokesperson.

Moraleda has in depth expertise in firms in numerous sectors. In banking, she was vp of Caixabank between March 2025 and February 2026, at which era she offered her resignation from the place. An industrial engineer from ICAI (the School of Engineering of the Universidad Pontifica Comillas), she was in flip a director of IBM between 1995 and 2009. She then went to Iberdrola between 2009 and 2012, after which grew to become a director of Airbus, Vodafone and AP Moller Maersk.

The resolution was made on the shareholders’ assembly this Tuesday held in Amsterdam. Moraleda will exchange René Obermann, who has been on the helm of the corporate since 2020 and was scheduled to go away to steer SAP. Moraleda’s place won’t have an government nature.

“I thank the board for its trust and I look forward to working with René in the coming months to ensure a smooth transition. I would like to congratulate him for his diligent management on the board during a period marked by major crises, especially the Covid-19 pandemic, disruptions in the supply chain and the worsening geopolitical environment,” mentioned the brand new president of Airbus in a press release despatched by the agency.

“My commitment to the company and its shareholders is total. I will work closely with my fellow board members and the management team to ensure that Airbus is well prepared to face the many challenges and take advantage of the opportunities that arise from the rapid changes in our global environment,” added the director.

The weight of Airbus in Spain

Airbus is an organization with important weight in Spain, the place it has, for instance, the Getafe megaplant, its largest industrial middle within the nation with about 10,000 workers. It is, in flip, the third largest Airbus industrial facility on the earth. The Getafense middle, along with being the corporate’s nationwide headquarters, is liable for the design, manufacturing and meeting of parts for each industrial and navy aviation. In this final department, the manufacturing facility in southern Madrid has the ultimate meeting line for the Eurofighter fighter jet.

On the opposite hand, Airbus additionally manages an vital plant in Albacete, which capabilities as its “world center of excellence” for the manufacturing of helicopter rear fuselages, the place it assembles, for instance, fuselage sections of the NH90 mannequin. It additionally has a presence in Seville, with navy aviation meeting strains for the A400M and C295 fashions. In complete, Airbus has 14,000 workers unfold throughout eight facilities in Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha and Andalusia.

Recently, the corporate’s CEO, Guillaume Faury, visited Madrid, the place he held a gathering with the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, wherein they mentioned the juicy protection contracts that have been awarded to the corporate final yr inside the framework of the Special Modernization Programs (PEM) that the Executive launched to spice up protection spending to the equal of two% of GDP. Among these packages have been the PEM of the FCAS (the long run European fight air system, for its acronym in English) that it leads along with Indra for a price of 700 million.

The Government has additionally awarded Airbus the manufacturing of 32 NH-90-3 helicopters in Albacete for the Armed Forces, along with the brand new built-in superior flight educating system. This newest PEM seeks to switch the present modernized American F-5 plane with a system primarily based on the Hürjet platform developed by the Turkish firm Turkish Aerospace. There might be as much as 45 plane that might be manufactured on the Turkish firm’s services, however which Airbus will later adapt “with a Spanishized configuration.”

On the opposite hand, the corporate has an vital civil enterprise department, wherein Spain chooses to make the subsequent era of the A320, Airbus’ flagship product, its single-aisle plane designed for brief or medium-distance journeys. Today, Getafe solely makes the coating of the engines and the horizontal stabilizer. “That will be the big issue of the next decade. There we will have to decide where to locate the production facilities and Spain has many cards in its hand to attract investment,” Faury mentioned in an interview with this medium final month.