The UK chief executive of Airbus, one of the earliest and most outspoken critics of Brexit, has lost his job.
Paul Kahn has been pushed out of the Franco-German aerospace giant after less than three years in the role.
With his departure, Mr Kahn’s role as chief executive of the UK business, which employs 15,000 people in Britain building wings for Airbus aircraft as well as satellites for the company’s space business, has been downgraded.
Airbus UK will no longer have a chief executive and the group has instead appointed its head of public affairs in Britain, Katherine Bennett, to the role of group senior vice-president UK.
The decision has set tongues wagging in the industry especially as Airbus will play a key role in the Brexit debate. As an industrial company with a complex European supply chain it is dependent on access to the single market and ease of movement of non-UK personnel.
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Mr Kahn has been one of the fiercest critics of Brexit, breaking cover more than a year before the European Union referendum to warn ministers of what it might mean for Airbus UK.
In a politically charged speech in May 2015, he said: “If, after an exit from the European Union, economic conditions in Britain were less favourable for business than in other parts of Europe or beyond, would Airbus reconsider future investment in the United Kingdom? Yes, absolutely.”
That caused a stir not only at Westminster but within his own company. It is understood group executives at headquarters in Toulouse were of the opinion that it was they and not Mr Kahn who should say what future investment in Britain might be.
Airbus said Mr Kahn had been let go because of the group’s Project Gemini restructuring programme, which is centralising control of Airbus under its chief executive, Tom Enders. Mr Kahn had previously reported to Marwan Lahoud, the group’s former head of strategy. Mr Lahoud left the company this year after an internal struggle over Mr Enders’ integration plans.
Ms Bennett is a career lobbyist and public relations professional. She joined Airbus in 2004, having previously been head of government affairs at Vauxhall.
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Mr Enders said: “During her more than a decade at Airbus, Katherine has worked tirelessly to build support and understanding among the UK government and other stakeholders.”