Robin Hayes is the new chairman and CEO of Airbus in North America, responsible for Airbus’ commercial aircraft and commercial services businesses throughout the Americas, as well as coordinating with Airbus Helicopters and the Airbus U.S. space and defense business. Robin has more than 30 years of global aerospace experience, including nine years as the CEO of JetBlue Airways Corp. Prior to JetBlue, he had a 19-year career at British Airways. Robin sat down with AirVenture Today this week at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2024 to chat about Airbus’ presence at the event, as well as his thoughts on a number of other topics.
Q: This is your second time attending EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. What are your thoughts on the event?
A: “It is fantastic. I had forgotten how big this was. I also suspect it’s grown over the last 15 years [since last attending] as well. So I now realize coming for a day was not enough time, so I’m going to have to come back next year and come for longer. But I mean, I can’t think of a more authentic air show experience than this one anywhere in the world.”
Q: You’ve been involved in the aviation industry for a long time and are in a new role at Airbus. What excites you most about this new opportunity?
A: “First of all, I feel extremely fortunate to have this opportunity to work for a company that, one, I’ve admired for a very long time, and two, has been so pioneering in aviation. By the way, not just fixed-wing airplanes, but helicopters and other innovations as well. And if you look ahead, our industry is going to double over the next 20 years in so many parts of the world, and sustainability of the industry is becoming a must-have rather than a nice-to-have. And it’s great to be working with an organization that’s at the forefront of the innovations that we need to make our industry more sustainable. So it’s incredibly exciting, and the amount of knowledge that exists in the people that work for Airbus is just something that’s just incredible.”
Q: Airbus is primarily known for its commercial aircraft, but what else is the company involved in?
A: “Airbus has 41 different physical locations in the United States. Airbus spends $15 billion in the supply chain in the United States. Airbus supports 275,000 jobs outside of Airbus that directly contribute to Airbus. We employ about 5,000 people ourselves. Probably the biggest of these 41 sites, obviously we have aircraft manufacturing in Mobile, where we build the 320 family and the 220. We build helicopters in Mississippi. And we build satellites in Florida. So those are, by the way, just three of the 41. … I mean, we are a fully fledged member of the aviation community here, and that is something that’s just going to continue to grow.”
Q: AirVenture and EAA as an organization focuses a lot on getting youths introduced and involved in aviation. Why is that important, and how does Airbus work to get the next generation involved in the industry?
A: “It is critically important, and here’s why. Our industry is going to double in size in the next 20 years. And when we talk to people today about what they see or think of as the growth careers, they’ll tell you things like cybersecurity, digital, clean energy transition. And yet, aviation is absolutely up there as a huge growth industry. And we need people to do that, whether they are engineers, whether they are pilots, mechanics. There are so many different jobs that need to be filled.
“So it’s absolutely critical that Airbus, but also everyone involved in the aviation ecosystem, is there doing their bit to get kids interested in this as early as middle school, if not maybe elementary school, but at least middle school. So as they start figuring out what they want to do in high school, what they want to do when they go to college; they can think of aviation as a great career.”
Q: Sustainability is a personal and professional passion for you. Why is that important, and what is Airbus doing to innovate when it comes to sustainable aviation?
A: “I think we have to recognize that we’re in a race against time here. If you look at it, particularly in Europe, you’re seeing more governments come out with mandates for airlines. In the United States, there’s not a mandate, but there’s a big commitment. So, new engine technologies. And that’s largely the part we’ve been doing today, the benefits of the neo engines versus the generation of engines before that, what might come next in terms of engine technology to make it even more fuel efficient. Then you’ve got sustainable aviation fuel, which is really viewed by the industry as something we should be focusing on now because it’s something that is available, but not available in anything like the volumes it needs to be. We’ve been stuck for a while in this loop of, do airlines want it? Are they willing to pay for it? Are financial institutions going to invest in it? But I feel that we’re now breaking out of that and I feels things actually happening. … I feel really a big push. But we’ve got to continue to push it, right?”
