Calls Media Attention "A Prospect I Deplore"

Add Louis Gallois' warbling tenor to the chorus of voices claiming top executives at EADS did nothing wrong in selling off massive amounts of stock, ahead of the public announcement last year of a second delay to the Airbus A380 program.

Reuters reports Gallois -- who was co-CEO of EADS at the time of the stock sales; he was assigned the new role of singular EADS Chief Executive earlier this year -- showed his support for the aerospace consortium's senior executives Sunday.

"As you know, there are currently a number of legal cases pending," Gallois said. "These will take time to resolve, and risk being the subject of saturated media coverage: a prospect I deplore."

As ANN reported, it was announced last week French stock regulator AMF will investigate those suspect stock sales, which occurred from November 2005 through April 2006. Airbus announced the A380 delay in June... a bit of news that pushed EADS stock into a freefall, and prompted the massive "Power8" restructuring program, and associated job cuts and plant closings.

Meanwhile, Gallois (below) stressed it's business as usual at EADS, despite the looming specter of corporate impropriety.

"I want to express my confidence in [the executives]," he said.

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