Patrick Gavin has been appointed Executive Vice President Engineering in April 2007. In this role, Mr Gavin is in charge of research & technology, overall product architecture and concept development, design office, integration & flight-testing, product continued airworthiness. Mr Gavin is also a member of the Airbus Executive Committee.

Until now Patrick Gavin was Executive Vice President Customer Services, a position he held since the year 2000. In this capacity he was responsible for all support activities to customers and has successfully ensured the best possible operation of a fast growing in-service Airbus aircraft fleet, and the development of new customer support products and services leading to an unprecedented high level of customer satisfaction.

Mr Gavin began his professional career at Aerospatiale in 1973 in Toulouse as an Engineer in the Technical Department of Concorde Product Support - Aircraft Division. In 1977, he was appointed to the role of Assistant Commercial Director in Paris, participating in the marketing, industrial cooperation and launch of new projects.

Mr Gavin returned to Toulouse in 1982 as Product Support Manager for Aerospatiale's Aircraft Division, before being appointed Vice President of ATR's Customer Support Department in 1987, and Managing Director of the Systems and Service business unit of the Aircraft Division in 1990. In January 1996, he became Senior Vice President of Technical and Industrial Strategy of Aerospatiale's Aircraft Division. In July 1996, Mr Gavin was appointed CEO of AI(R), the Regional Aircraft Manufacturer company resulting from the merger between ATR and British Regional Aircraft.

In July 1998, Mr Gavin was appointed President of the Management Board of Eurocopter and two years later he was promoted to EVP Customer Services of Airbus.

Patrick Gavin was born in Paris, France in 1949. He graduated as an engineer, with a major in electronics, in 1972, from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Aéronautique et de l'Espace (ENSAE) in Toulouse. Married with one child, Patrick enjoys sports and travelling.