It’s official: MTU’s engine leader named CEO of Airbus Commercial from Jan. 1; future of Open Fan and A220-500 shifts to him

The future of the CFM RISE Open Fan on the Airbus A320neo successor family loses its biggest proponent within Airbus with the retirement of Commercial Aircraft CEO Christian Scherer. His successor is CEO of MTU Aero Engines, a big supplier to CFM’s rival, Pratt & Whitney and the PW1100 GTF engine. Credit: Leeham Co.

By Scott Hamilton

July 10, 2025, © Leeham News: It’s official: Lars Wagner becomes CEO of Airbus Commercial Aircraft on Jan. 1. He will succeed current CEO Christian Scherer, who will retire after 40 years at Airbus.

Word of Wagner’s appointment leaked months ago.

Lars Wagner, CEO of MTU Aero Engines. Credit: MTU.

Wagner joins Airbus on Nov. 1 to begin a two-month transition. He is currently the CEO of MTU Aero Engines, a position he assumed in 2023. He joined MTU in 2015. Before that, he held various positions at Airbus. He is an engineer.

Wagner’s appointment may cast a question over GE Aerospace’s campaign with Airbus to choose the RISE Open Fan engine for the latter’s new single aisle aircraft intended to replace the A320neo family.

During the Paris Air Show last month, Airbus Group CEO Guillaume Faury said Airbus plans to decide on the engine to be selected for the A3XX around 2027-2028. A program launch target is 2030 with an entry-into-service target of 2038.

Future of A220-500, Open Fan shifts to Wagner

The Commercial Aircraft’s new CEO will heavily influence the future of the Airbus A220-500 stretch model and the Open Fan. Scherer is the leading proponent of the Open Fan and the A220-500. Wagner’s views on the Open Fan, according to an Airbus insider LNA spoke with at the air show, is aligned with Pratt & Whitney’s that an evolutionary Geared Turbo Fan is a better path than the radical new Open Fan design. MTU is a major supplier to PW on the GTF.

Even so, Pratt & Whitney has a “Plan B” development of an Open Fan engine in under study. PW’s sibling, Pratt & Whitney Canada, revealed development of an Open Fan engine for start-up company Maeve, which is developing a 70-100 seat regional jet airliner.

GE Aerospace, which believes the Open Fan is the best technology for the next-generation single-aisle aircraft, also has a Plan B engine, a conventional turbofan, under study. LNA was told at the Paris Air Show that Airbus is in discussions with PW and GE about their Plan B engines in addition to their respective preferred Plan A choices.

A220-500

The development of the A220-500 remains open to debate within Airbus. Bombardier designed the C Series before the program was purchased by Airbus in 2017 and renamed the A220. A CS500, now unofficially called the A220-500, was part of the design. The stretched model will compete directly with the Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737-8.

Bombardier put the design on the shelf to avoid direct competition with the heart-of-the-market Airbus and Boeing aircraft, focusing instead on the smaller CS300 (vs the 126-seat A319 and 737-700) and CS100 (a 100-seat model). Development cost overruns, poor strategy, development costs of two corporate jets, and losses in its train division drove Bombardier to the brink of bankruptcy.

A trade complaint by Boeing over sales of the C Series to Delta Air Lines and an effort to sell the airplane to United Airlines prompted the sale of the C Series program to Airbus. Airbus today says the A220-500 will appear in the early 2030s. However, Scherer is the biggest booster of the -500. Wagner’s position is unknown.