Barry Eccleston

Barry Eccleston was appointed president and chief executive officer of Airbus North America in August 2005. In this position, he oversees all efforts of Airbus in North and South America and the Caribbean, including sales and marketing, engineering, service and training. 

Eccleston joined Airbus from Honeywell’s Engines, Systems and Services division, where he served as vice president and general manager of the Propulsion Systems Enterprise. He held that position for nearly two years, with responsibility for the $1.4 billion business aviation, turboprop, regional fan, and military engines businesses. Prior to that position, Eccleston served as Honeywell’s Vice President of Commercial Aerospace for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Before Honeywell, he spent four years at Fairchild Dornier Corporation, as Executive Vice President for Business Development for two years, preceded by a two-year role as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. 

Eccleston’s career in aviation and aerospace began at Rolls-Royce where he started as a flight test engineer and held increasingly senior positions with the company for 29 years, including President and CEO Rolls-Royce Ind Canada, and culminating in his role as President and CEO of International Aero Engines, where Rolls-Royce is one of the major shareholders. 

Eccleston holds a bachelor’s degree, with honors, in aeronautical engineering from Loughborough University in England and completed the International Executive program at the Institute of Management Development in Switzerland. 

He was born in the United Kingdom in February 1947 and is married with a son and a daughter.  Eccleston became a U.S. citizen in 1997.  He is a private pilot, and an executive committee member of the Flight Safety Foundation Board of Governors.