Safran Aircraft Engines has announced new appointments in its corporate management team:

• François Bastin has been named Vice President, Commercial Engines division, replacing Cédric Goubet, who is now Chief Executive Officer of Safran Nacelles.
• Sébastien Imbourg has been named Vice President, CFM Programs at Safran Aircraft Engines and also Executive Vice President of CFM International, the JV with GE, where he replaces François Bastin.

François Bastin, 46, joined Snecma, now Safran Aircraft Engines, in 1997, working in the Engineering division on the design of combustors, nozzles and exhaust systems. He was subsequently named head of the department in charge of engine performance and preliminary design projects.

In 2004, Bastien moved to the Production division, where he first led the continuous improvement plan for the Gennevilliers plant, then headed the Forge unit and finally led the Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma initiatives. In 2009, he was named director of the Leap programme.

From February 2015 until this latest appointment, Bastin was Vice President, CFM Programmes at Safran Aircraft Engines and Executive Vice President of CFM International.

François Bastin is a graduate from École Normale Supérieure. He holds a PhD in energetics from École Centrale de Paris and did post-doctoral work at Stanford University in California.

Sébastien Imbourg, 44, started his career at Snecma (now Safran Aircraft Engines) in 1998, as part of the commercial turbine design team in the Engineering division. He then took part in the certification of the PowerJet SaM146 engine as chief engineer from 2007 to 2010.

In early 2011, he was named head of the Continuous Improvement department at Snecma, before returning to the Engineering division as head of the design office. From 2015 until this latest appointment, Imbourg was Vice President, Leap Programmes in Safran Aircraft Engines' Commercial Engine division.

Imbourg graduated from INSA in Lyon and holds a DEA post-graduate degree in mechanical engineering.