Airbus sales head joins EADS executive committee

PARIS (Reuters) - EADS (EAD.A) said on Thursday that it had named Airbus sales head John Leahy to its executive committee, which sets strategy for the commercial and military aviation group.

Leahy, who helped propel the European planemaker from European upstart to number one in commercial sales and deliveries, has become Boeing Co's (BA.N) most visible adversary in the post.

He was one of a handful of new appointees to a reshuffled executive board put in place by recently installed EADS chief executive Tom Enders, who previously served as CEO of Airbus.

Industry analysts said the move reflected a desire by Enders to provide better balance towards Airbus, which dominates the group's finances.

Leahy, an energetic New Yorker who became sales director in 1994, has criticized past in-fighting between French and German camps inside Europe's largest aerospace group.

(Reporting By Christian Plumb; Additional reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Helen Massy-Beresford)