From Fragmentation to Integration in the European Aircraft Industry: Cooperation, Resilience, and the Rise of Airbus

Airbus may be the most successful example of organizational resilience in the world. This article examines the factors that have contributed to the European company’s success in the commercial aviation sector by analyzing the resilience process of the aircraft manufacturers that became part of the consortium, and Airbus’s subsequent evolution. The period examined stretches from the end of the Second World War to the present day. The first section of the article provides historical context by discussing the background of the European aircraft industry and the difficulty it had competing with the increasingly powerful industry of the United States in the post-war period. The rest of the article adopts an economic perspective based on the theory of organizational resilience. After analyzing Airbus’s success in the commercial aviation sector, it briefly compares the European manufacturer’s revenue from the defense sector to that of its main rival.