May Also Scrap Traditional Powersharing Agreement

About the best thing that could happen to Airbus's parent company, EADS, is for co-CEO Noel Forgeard to step down... quietly. So say proposals put forth to the French government over the weekend by the company's own shareholders.

Right or wrong, it can't be denied that Forgeard has become a lightning rod for controversy over the latest six-month delay in delivery of A380s to some of Airbus's launch customers... a problem made worse by the disclosure that, as rumors of the delay began circulating... Forgeard, his family and other EADS executives sold off huge amounts of stock while it was still at very high prices.

Shareholders presented a number of ideas at the weekend meeting... all of them starting with Forgeard's quick and quiet departure. An announcement on Forgeard's future with the company -- or lack thereof -- is expected any minute.

So what will life at EADS be like once Forgeard is gone? One idea now being considered in Paris is to end the company's tradition of having two CEOs... one French, the other German. Instead... proponents of the idea say the company could be run by a German CEO and a French chairman... or vice-versa.

But that's not an idea that's likely to gain favor in either Paris or Berlin.

FMI: www.eads.com, www.airbus.com