Airbus picks former GE executive as Europe sales chief

Airbus has chosen a former GE executive as the planemaker’s new sales chief in Europe in a move to strengthen its salesforce to get through the pandemic. The company confirmed that Wouter Van Wersch, who until last month was GE’s president and chief executive officer for Asia-Pacific, will take up the role. He will start on Sept. 1 and report to commercial head Christian Scherer. Van Wersch will be tasked with navigating Airbus through the aviation crisis caused by the Covid-19 outbreak while seeking to minimize the impact of lower aircraft sales and production. He’ll also be responsible for managing relationships with key customers such as Air France-KLM, EasyJet Plc and Deutsche Lufthansa AG. The appointment comes at a challenging time for Airbus, even though the company has largely managed to avoid order cancellations tied to the virus. Keeping lines of communication open with customers whose revenues continue to be affected by travel quarantines will be vital.<br/>