Noel Forgeard is still fighting to keep his post at troubled planemaker Airbus, Bloomberg reports.

Noel Forgeard co-chief executive of Airbus’s parent, said he won’t quit following delays in the delivery of A380 superjumbo jets and questions about his sale of shares, resisting pressure from the group’s German shareholder.
Forgeard, 59, responding to questions in a closed-door session of the French parliament’s finance and economic affairs committee, said there was “no question,” of him resigning, according to Pierre Mehaignerie, the committee’s co-head.

Insert joke about the Germans not seeing this much French refusal to surrender since the first world war here.

Head Forgeard Won’t Quit, Resisting German Pressure [Bloomberg]

The BBC is reporting that a shareholder group has launched a “French-style class action” lawsuit against EADS, the 80% parent company troubled planemaker Airbus.
Meanwhile, French right-winger Jean-Marie Le Pen has decided to add his voice to the fray, calling for embattled Airbus co-executive Noel Forgeard to be sent to a monastery.

“I think that if I was a shareholder there wouldn’t be a shadow of a doubt. I would send him off to the Benedictines (monks) to learn a bit of moderation, thought and wisdom.”

Not quite “Get thee to a nunnery” but close enough that if we were in Forgeard’s place we’d want to keep in mind how Ophelia ends up in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

Send EADS chief to a monastery – France’s Le Pen [Reuters]

Another day, another crisis at Airbus. The latest news is that Congressman John Mica is saying that federal funds should not be used to rebuild US airports to accommodate Airbus’s A380 super jumbojet, the world’s largest passenger jet.
The reason this matters is that Mica is the chairman of the House aviation subcommittee. Although most US airports are owned by local municipalities, federal funding is an important part of the financing for construction and maintenance of many airports. The A380 is so big it will not be able to safely land and gate at many airports if they are not refurbished.
Airbus plans for US dealt blow [Financial Times on MSNBC]

The Airbus crisis—touched off when the European airplane maker announced a six month delay in deliveries of its A380 superjumbo jet—continues to spread-out into the political arena.
The German finance ministry and DaimlerChrysler, part owner of Airbus parent European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co, broke their silence on the Airbus crisis in order to smack down French calls for revisions to the EADS “shareholders’ pact”—the Franco-German agreement which governs the company and prevents the French government from directly interfering with it. French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has since backed away from proposals to increase the hand of the French government in the company.
And while he was trying to make nice with the Germans, Villepin was also apologizing for accusing Socialist leader François Hollande of cowardice during yesterday’s heated debate in the French parliament over the government’s position on Airbus. His accusation led to a walk-out by the socialist ministers. There is some talk that the Airbus crisis might topple Villepin’s government.

The Airbus meltdown keeps getting better. Or maybe worse. It depends what you’re rooting for.
If there’s one thing French history teaches us it is: don’t become the focus of “vitriolic exchanges” in the French National Assembly. And if we were Noël Forgeard we’d start to worry that about that vaguely familiar scaffold and steel structure being built up outside* the offices of EADS, the 80% parent of the troubled Airbus plane-maker. Forgeard is co-chief executive of EADS.
More after the jump.

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Noel Forgeard, co-chief executive of the parent company of European aircraft manufacturer airbus, spent last night locked in talks with the company’s co-chairman and his co-chief executive, discussing the recent crisis involving the A380 superjumbo jet that sent stock prices plummeting and sales of company stock made Forgeard and his family in the weeks leading up to the crisis.
Technical problems with what was set to be the world’s largest passenger airplane cut the price of EADS shares by 26%, and have led to rumors that Airbus may need to be bailed out by European governments and Forgeard replaced. And the fact that Forgeard and his children allegedly made millions selling stock prior to the announcement of the problems haven’t helped much either.

EADS chief fights to save career at crisis meeting [Guardian]
Update:This morning aircraft leasing giant International Lease Finance Corp. warned it might cancel orders of the Airbus A380 superjumbo and the planned A350 model, contracts that may be worth as much as $5 billion.

Following last week’s disastrous announcement of further problems with the A380 superjumbo jet, word comes this week that Airbus may seek state assistance from Europe to develop a midsize carrier. This promises to up the ante on the aircraft trade war brewing between the US and Europe. The US has vowed to fight further subsidies for Airbus in the World Trade Organization. The US, of course, assists our own aircraft industry through the Import-Export bank.*

Airbus Considering a Request for State Aid [New York Times]
*Disclosure: the linked article on the Ex-Im bank was written by Tim Carney, the brother of DealBreaker’s John Carney.