Yet further delays in the production and delivery schedules for the Airbus A400M military airlift and air-to-air refuelling aircraft have led to a major shake-up at Airbus Defence and Space, the Airbus Group company responsible for the aeroplane. The changes were announced by the company on Thursday.

Airbus Defence and Space head of military aircraft Domingo Ureña-Raso has resigned with immediate effect (and will be appointed to another position in the Group) and will be replaced by former flight test engineer Fernando Alonso (not to be confused with the Formula 1 racing car driver). Alonso will take up his new position on March 1. In the interim, Airbus Defence and Space CEO Bernhard Gerwert will also act temporarily as head of military aircraft.

There are also organisational changes. Responsibility for the industrialisation of the A400M has been transferred to the company’s Operational division, headed by (Ms) Pilar Albiac-Murillo. The current head of the A400M Programme, Rafael Tentor, will remain responsible for development of the aircraft and for deliveries to customers.

“I expect that the new team will rapidly address existing shortfalls in the most efficient way,” stated Gerwert. “Every pilot who has flown the A400M to date praises the aircraft’s performance. It has even already been deployed in military operations and it will be a strategic asset to any of our customers’ air forces.”

“But as for integration of military capabilities and the industrial ramp-up in particular, we have not been performing at the level which had been expected from us,” he admitted. “That is unacceptable and we will fix that. We are fully conscious of how dependent the customer nations are on this new airlifter and therefore take their concerns very seriously. We will do our utmost to overcome them so the customers receive the aircraft they need in the shortest time possible.”

Alonso was born in Madrid, Spain and has been with Airbus for more than 30 years (having previously started his career at the then McDonnell Douglas in California in 1979 as a performance engineer). He became a flight test engineer in 1990. He was the flight test engineer on the first flights of the A340-200 (in 1992), A319 (1997), A380 (2005) and the A350 XWB (2013). Since September 2007 he has been senior VP: flight and integration tests and head of flight operations. As head of military aircraft he will also be a member of the Airbus Defence and Space executive committee.

South African companies are involved in the A400M. Aerosud and Denel Aerostructures are full industrial partners in the programme, while Cobham South Africa supplies the satellite communications antennas and associated equipment for the aeroplane.