July 3 (Bloomberg) -- Airbus SAS's parent company named Louis Gallois, a veteran of the French aerospace industry, to replace embattled Co-Chief Executive Officer Noel Forgeard and restore the company's credibility with customers and investors. Christian Streiff, a former executive at French glassmaker Cie. de Saint Gobain SA, will replace Gustav Humbert as CEO of Airbus itself, European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co. also said yesterday in a statement. Gallois is chief of the state railway and former head of France's two biggest aerospace companies. Forgeard was pressured by EADS's biggest shareholder, DaimlerChrysler AG, to leave after the disclosure of his stock sale and the announcement of additional delays on the 555-seat A380, a $13 billion program intended to preserve Airbus's position as the world's biggest commercial planemaker. EADS lost a quarter of its market value on June 14 after saying the delays would reduce earnings 2 billion euros ($2.5 billion) by 2010. ``Airbus has got to come up now with a road map acceptable to customers and investors,'' said Richard Aboulafia, vice president of Teal Group, a Fairfax, Virginia-based consulting company. ``That means a way to fix the A380's problems and get it out the door, and also means coming out with a new widebody family so they can compete with Boeing.''
``Do I think Gallois can bring leadership for Airbus in direction? Yes, indeed,'' said Zafar Khan, an analyst at SG Securities in London who has a ``sell'' rating on EADS. The minutes of the May 12 meeting show Gallois to be ``the only one who comes out with any credibility.''
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