PARIS (Reuters) – Jean Pierson, a French industrialist who propelled planemaker Airbus onto the global jet market and began its transformation from a loose consortium into a European aerospace giant, has died, former colleagues said on Thursday.
Pierson died at the age of 80 in southern France. He ran Toulouse-based Airbus between 1985 and 1998 and was credited with striking its first major deals to penetrate Boeing’s home market in the United States.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
