Jean-Brice Dumont, currently head of engineering at Airbus Helicopters, has been appointed head of engineering at Airbus Commercial Aircraft, following the decision by Charles Champion, to retire by the end of this year. Dumont will join Airbus on 1 September 2017 and take over from Champion in December 2017 following a transition phase. He will become a member of the Airbus Commercial Aircraft Management Committee.

“I would like to express my sincere thanks to Charles Champion for his outstanding contribution to Airbus throughout his career,” said Tom Enders, Airbus chief executive officer. “Since he joined Aérospatiale in 1980, he has been engaged in almost every aspect of the business from Manufacturing to Programmes, Sales to Customer Services and, in the latter years, Engineering. Airbus owes much to his experience, commitment and energy. I wish him all the best for his personal future.”

Dumont will be succeeded at Airbus Helicopters by Alain Flourens, currently head of the A380 programme within Airbus Commercial Aircraft. Flourens will join Helicopters as of 1 July 2017 and take over from Dumont as of 1 September, 2017. Flourens will become a member of the Executive Committee of Airbus Helicopters. His succession will be subject to further notice.

“After 10 years of heading the A380 Programme, Alain Flourens has been instrumental in putting the A380 Programme on a stable trajectory – with breakeven now achieved over the last two consecutive years,” said Fabrice Brégier, president of Airbus Commercial Aircraft. “I wish to thank him on behalf of everyone at Airbus for this.”

With two decades of industry experience, Jean-Brice Dumont has been executive vice president engineering as well as chief technical officer since 2012 at Airbus Helicopters (formerly Eurocopter). Dumont joined the company in February 2004, working as Engineer and Development Project Manager for the NH90 programme, prior to becoming NH90 Chief Engineer and NH Industries’ Technical Director from 2008 to 2012. Dumont is a graduate of France’s École Polytechnique and ISAE Aerospace Institute.

Alain Flourens was promoted to executive vice president and head of the A380 programme in 2008, following assignments as head of the single aisle programme, a post he had held since September 2006, and executive vice president, head of the Airbus Centres of Excellence, since 2005. In 1990 he joined Aérospatiale’s Aircraft Division in Toulouse, became production manager in Nantes and in 1993 managing director at the company’s St Eloi factory. Flourens began his professional career in 1982 at the French Ministry of Defence. He graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris in 1980 and obtained a degree in engineering from Toulouse ISAE Institute in 1982.