Airbus taps McArtor to head North American unit

European aerospace and defense firm Airbus, formerly known as EADS, named a new head of its North American business unit Tuesday. Airbus, which rebranded itself on January 1, said that Allan McArtor will become chairman and chief executive of Airbus Group on March 1, succeeding Sean O'Keefe, who was resigning to deal with injuries suffered in an aircraft accident a few years ago. "O'Keefe has elected to step down as chairman and CEO of Airbus Group, Inc in order to fully address ongoing medical issues due to injuries he sustained in a 2010 aircraft accident in Alaska," the company said in a statement. O'Keefe was appointed CEO of then-EADS North America in November 2009, and became the chairman of the board in January 2011. McArtor is currently chairman of Airbus Americas. He has been a member of the Airbus Americas senior leadership team for almost 13 years, the company said. Prior to joining the European firm, he held a number of senior jobs in government and industry, including head of the US Federal Aviation Administration and founder and CEO of Legend Airlines.