Aerospace giant European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), which owns the Airbus aircraft manufacturer, announced Monday that it is switching to a single CEO structure with Frenchman Louis Gallois set to head the company.

The change at the top of US plane maker Boeing's biggest rival will also see German Thomas Enders take over as sole boss of Airbus, with his deputy Frenchman Fabrice Bregier, who is at the centre of the restructuring at Airbus.

Until now, EADS had been jointly headed by Gallois and Enders in a dual CEO structure - a serious bone of contention among EADS shareholders.

Criticism that the dual management structure was too cumbersome to be efficient grew louder after production problems with the Airbus A380 aircraft led to delivery delays of up to two years for the superjumbo jetliner, and multi-billion dollar losses for EADS.

The change, which in effect means Germany giving up its share of the top job at EADS in exchange for the top job at Airbus, came just ahead of a meeting between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel at Airbus in Toulouse.

Germany was known to have insisted that France did not occupy all the main decision-making posts, in the face of what observers said were clear indications the French wanted to control Airbus alone.

Observers also noted that Berlin is keen to stop the French increasing influence in the finely tuned EADS power structure, in which it currently has a direct investment of 15 percent, with the French media group Lagardere holding an additional 7.5 percent.

The German DaimlerChrysler company holds 15 percent, while a further 7.5 percent is held by a predominantly German consortium of federal state governments and banks - but with no voting rights.

Merkel has rejected any direct German state investment. The assumption by industry insiders has been that the French state holding will increase to 22.5 percent, with Paris taking over Lagardere's holding as Sarkozy seeks new partners.

However, the agreement governing the new EADS structure ensures the balance of French and German interests until 2010, and stipulates that the governments play no part in the actual running of the company.

"It's a fair and balanced managemment structure which can work efficiently," Merkel said Monday. "Cooperation in this unique European project will spill over to other countries."

Sarkozy, for his part, said the sharing of posts between the Germans and French should switch after five years - a move that DaimlerChrysler said would be "taken into consideration".

"This is a great day for the Franco-German axis," Sarkozy added.