Eric Chen, previously president of Airbus Commercial Aircraft China, succeeds Laurence Barron as chairman of Airbus China. Simultaneously, George Xu has been appointed CEO of Airbus China. In his role as country head of Airbus China, Xu is responsible for all Airbus commercial aircraft activities and for leading the company’s helicopter, defence and space businesses in China.

Chen is a 20-year Airbus veteran, having joined Airbus in 1994 as area sales director. He was promoted to vice president sales and external affairs of Airbus China in 2001. Chen held that position until 2008 when he became senior vice president commercial and external affairs of Airbus China.

He became president of Airbus China on 1st January 2013, responsible for Airbus' overall activities in the PRC, including sales, marketing, contracts, government affairs, customer services, industrial cooperation, finance, communications, administration and site management, legal, etc.

Xu started his career in the Tianjin Economic and Technology Development Area Administrative Committee in 1995 and was promoted to deputy director of the Investment Promotion Bureau of the Tianjin Free Trade Zone in 2003, and then director of the bureau in 2005.

In 2005, Xu started to work on the A320 Final Assembly Line programme in China. In 2008, he was appointed deputy general manager of the A320 Family Final Assembly Line in Tianjin while remaining director of the Investment Promotion Bureau of the Tianjin Free Trade Zone Administrative Committee.

Xu was chairman of the board of the A320 Family Final Assembly Line and, in parallel, vice president of the Tianjin Free Trade Zone Administrative Committee in 2011 until 2014.   That same year, Xu became party secretary of the Tianjin Youth League.

Xu received a Bachelor’s degree in Information Management Systems from Tianjin University and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Roosevelt University of Chicago. He also received a PhD in Economics from Nankai University.