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By Scott Hamilton and Bjorn Fehrm

Jan. 5, 2026, © Leeham News: The big news at Airbus at the start of this year is the new president and chief executive officer for Airbus Commercial Aircraft: Lars Wagner.

Wagner succeeds an Airbus lifer, Christian Scherer, who retired from his position on Dec. 31. He remains with Airbus for another six months in a transition capacity. Wagner joined Airbus in November to begin a transition period. He previously was the CEO of MTU Aero Engines AG. He joined MTU from Airbus in 2015, holding various positions until he was recruited by Airbus to succeed Scherer.

Lars Wagner took over as CEO of Airbus Commercial Aircraft on Jan. 1. Credit: Airbus.

Immediate challenges facing Wagner include stubborn supply chain issues as Airbus seeks to ramp up production of the A320 family to 75/mo by 2027; the A220 family to 12/mo this year, the A350 to 12/mo by 2028, and 5/mo A330 by 2029.

Airbus’ supply chain—as with Boeing, Embraer, the engine makers, and the suppliers within their own chain—remains stressed for a variety of reasons.

In fact, quality control issues on A320 fuselage panels that became public on Dec. 1 illustrate just one of the many challenges the 50-year-old Wagner faces. Those problems, and others, prevented Airbus from meeting its delivery target of 823 aircraft for 2025.

Two other major issues facing Wagner, but in the coming near-term years, are whether to stretch the A220-300 into an aircraft the size of the A320neo; and whether to select the GE/Safran CFM International RISE Open Fan engine for the A320 replacement in the coming decade.

Group CEO Guillaume Faury said during the Paris Air Show last year an engine decision will be made by 2027 or 2028, and a program launch will be in 2030. A RISE demonstrator engine is to be mounted on an A380 next year to begin flight testing.

Scherer was the leading proponent of both projects, arguing that a market leader should not wait for the competition to move but rather jump them to stay the leader.