Henri Ziegler CVO,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(18 November 1906 in

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 ...

– 24 July 1998, 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 ...

) was one of the founders 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 ...

and its first president. An engineer, he was a graduate of the

École Polytechnique (, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...

and of "Sup'Aéro" (the national aerospace engineering school) as well as a French air force officer and test pilot. he was a founding father of Airbus Industrie, along with Roger Béteille and Felix Kracht, and was appointed as the first

chief executive officer 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 ...

of Airbus Industrie. He was the driving force behind the development 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 ...

B, the original aircraft that started Airbus on its road to global success, by obtaining French government backing for the programme in 1969.

Early life

Following his appointment as assistant director of the Centre d'Essais en Vol (government flight test centre) in 1938, he fought for the

French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In 1944 he was made commander of the

Free French Free France () was a resistance government claiming to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third French Republic, Third Republic during World War II. Led by General , Free France was established as a gover ...

air forces in London, going on to become chief of staff of the French Forces of the Interior under General Koenig. He was awarded the Croix de guerre 1939–1945 with three palms, the Médaille de la Résistance with rosette and appointed officer on the US

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a Awards and decorations of the United States military, military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievemen ...

Aerospace career

While acting as a special representative of the French government in Britain and the United States, Ziegler was also managing director of

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 ...

from 1946 to 1954. In subsequent years he was the founder of Air Alpes, a member of several cabinet ministries, president of Avions Breguet; president of

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 ...

(1968), leader of the Franco-British supersonic airliner project

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 ...

, and president and CEO (1970–1973) of SNIAS (Société Nationale Industrielle Aérospatiale), which was renamed

Aérospatiale Aérospatiale () was a major French state-owned aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and arms industry, defence corporation. It was founded in 1970 as () through the merger of three established state-owned companies: Sud Aviation, Nord Aviation ...

in 1984. From 1971 to 1973, Ziegler was also managing director of the French Aerospace industries trade organisation (Usias), retiring from Airbus in 1975. In 1973, Ziegler received the '' Tony Jannus Award'', along with Geoffrey Knight, for distinguished contributions to commercial aviation. Ziegler was the father of Bernard Ziegler, the former Airbus Director of Engineering.

Honours

During his career, Ziegler was the recipient of several honours, including Grand Officer of the

Légion d'honneur 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 ...

, honorary Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) and honorary Commander of the

Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order () is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch, members of the royal family, or to any viceroy or senior representative of the m ...

(CVO). "There would be no Airbus without Henri Ziegler," Airbus CEO Gustav Humbert declared on 11 April 2006 at the dedication of the new Airbus delivery centre in

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

named in his honour. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ziegler, Henri 1906 births 1998 deaths Airbus people French aviation pioneers Concorde Corps de l'armement École Polytechnique alumni French aerospace engineers French chief executives French test pilots Officers of the Legion of Merit Supaéro alumni