Bernard Lathière (; 4 March 1929 – 27 June 1997) was a French civil servant, politician, and businessman known for his contributions to French aviation. Lathière is considered one of the founding fathers of

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

, along with

Franz Josef Strauss Franz Josef Strauss ( ; 6 September 1915 – 3 October 1988) was a German politician. He was the long-time chairman of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) from 1961 until 1988, member of the federal cabinet in different positions between ...

Henri Ziegler Henri Ziegler CVO, CBE (18 November 1906 in Limoges – 24 July 1998, in Paris) was one of the founders of Airbus and its first president. An engineer, he was a graduate of the École Polytechnique and of "Sup'Aéro" (the national aerospace e ...

, and

Roger Béteille Roger Béteille (28 August 1921 – 14 June 2019) was a French aeronautical engineer and businessman who was associated with Airbus. Regarded as one of the founding fathers of the company, he is known for his contributions towards Airbus, which c ...

, as he served as the first managing director of

Airbus Industrie Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate defence and space and helicopter divisions. Airbus has long been the ...

. He also served as the chairman of the Board of Directors of Aéroports de Paris from 1986 to 1992, and was a director at

Sud Aviation Sud Aviation (, 'Southern Aviation') was a French state-owned aircraft manufacturer, originating in the merger of Sud-Est ( SNCASE, or ''Société nationale des constructions aéronautiques du sud-est'') and Sud-Ouest ( SNCASO or ''Société nat ...

and the Société Nationale Industrielle Aérospatiale. Outside of aviation, he also served as

Inspector General of Finance Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia The rank of Inspector is present in all Australian police forces excep ...

and Chairman of the National Foreign Trade Center of France.

Early life

Bernard Lathière was born on March 4, 1929, in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

(now

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

). He was the son of Jean Lathière, a

Vichy Vichy (, ; ) is a city in the central French department of Allier. Located on the Allier river, it is a major spa and resort town and during World War II was the capital of Vichy France. As of 2021, Vichy has a population of 25,789. Known f ...

ssois politician from

Limoges Limoges ( , , ; , locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region. Situated o ...

, and his wife Lucienne (née Fagneaux). Bernard grew up speaking

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

, Limousin Occitan, and

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

. He obtained a diploma from

Paris Institute of Political Studies Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...

in 1953 and his legal license from Sorbornne University in 1954. He graduated from the

École Nationale d'Administration The (; ENA; ) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by the then Provisional Government of the French Republic, provisional chief of government Charles de Gaulle and principal co-author of the Constitution of France, 1958 Constitution M ...

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

in 1955. He married Odette Duport in 1957.

Career

Lathière began his career in 1955 in the Ministry of Economics and Finance as Deputy Inspector of Finance, and in 1957 was elected Inspector General of Finance. In 1958 he became a

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Eur ...

for the Ministry's Foreign Trade Commission. From 1959 to 1960, Lathière worked as a technology advisor to Minister of Armed Forces

Pierre Guillaumat Pierre Guillaumat (; 5 August 1909 – 28 August 1991) was a Minister of National Education and Minister of the Armies under French President Charles de Gaulle and founder of the Elf Aquitaine Elf Aquitaine is a French brand of oils and oth ...

before becoming

Chargé de mission ''Chargé de mission'' ( French for "in charge of mission") is the title of a class of diplomatic envoy. This type of post is created by an embassy to undertake a specific diplomatic project abroad on behalf of a head of mission or the government. ...

of the Direction de la Construction in 1961. In 1962, he was hired as a technology advisor to

Minister of Public Works This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure. See also * Public works * Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...

Edgard Pisani Edgard Edouard Pisani (; 9 October 1918 – 20 June 2016) was a French statesman, philosopher, and writer. He was a European Commissioner and Member of the European Parliament. Biography Pisani was born in Tunis, French Tunisia, of French par ...

. He was promoted to deputy director of Civil Transportation of the Ministry of Public Works in 1966 and appointed the

Ministry of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...

's Director of Air Transport in 1968. While serving as Director of Air Transport, Lathière also worked as the 1968 director of

and the 1970 director of the Société Nationale Industrielle Aérospatiale. He also served as the government liaison to

Air France Air France (; legally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France, and is headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. The airline is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and is one of the founding members ...

and

Union de Transports Aériens Union de Transports Aériens (; abbreviated as UTA and sometimes known as UTA French Airlines), was a private independent airline in France that operated from 1963 until it merged with Air France in 1992. UTA was formed by the merger of Union ...

from 1968 to 1971, and served as the French delegate to the

Concorde Concorde () is a retired Anglo-French supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France and the United Kingdom signed a treaty establishin ...

project from 1969 to 1974. In 1975, as the multinational aviation corporation Airbus Industrie began to grow, Lathière was brought in by chairman Franz Josef Strauss as the managing director of the company, the company's equivalent of a

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

. During his tenure as managing director, he was oversaw the projects of the

Airbus A300 The Airbus A300 is Airbus' first production aircraft and the world's first Twinjet, twin-engine, double-aisle Wide-body aircraft, (wide-body) airliner. It was developed by ''Airbus Industrie GIE'', now merged into Airbus SE, and manufactured f ...

Airbus A310 The Airbus A310 is a wide-body aircraft, Aircraft design process, designed and manufactured by Airbus Industrie GIE, then a consortium of European aerospace manufacturers. Airbus had identified a demand for an aircraft smaller than the Airbus ...

, and

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first membe ...

. He stepped down voluntarily in February 1985 after two five-year terms. He was appointed Chairman of Aéroports de Paris in 1986 and served until 1992. Through this job he helped increase traffic to

Charles de Gaulle Airport Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport , also known as Roissy Airport, is the primary international airport serving Paris, the capital city of France. The airport opened in 1974 and is located in Roissy-en-France, northeast of Paris. It is named for ...

Death and legacy

Lathière retired for health reasons in 1992 and died on June 27, 1997, in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. During his lifetime, Lathière became an Officer of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

and a Commander of the

Ordre national du Mérite The (; ) is a French order of merit with membership awarded by the President of the French Republic, founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle. The reason for the order's establishment was twofold: to replace the large number of ...

, and was awarded a 1st class

Médaille de l'Aéronautique The Aeronautical Medal () is a state decoration of France established by the decree of February 14, 1945. It is awarded to both military personnel and civilians for outstanding accomplishments related to the field of aeronautics. Originally e ...

. Rue Bernard Lathière, a road connecting two major

avenue Avenue or Avenues may refer to: Roads * Avenue (landscape), traditionally a straight path or road with a line of trees, in the shifted sense a tree line itself, or some of boulevards (also without trees) * Avenue Road, Bangalore * Avenue Road, Lon ...

s in Limoges, is named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lathière, Bernard 1929 births 1997 deaths French civil servants 20th-century French politicians French businesspeople Politicians from Kolkata Businesspeople from Kolkata