Gallois also said the Airbus turnaround plan will involve painful job cuts, without giving details.
The French financial daily La Tribune reported on its website that Airbus managers are discussing measures to cut 10,000 of the company's 56,000 European employees. The company has denied that report.
Shares in European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., which owns 80 percent of Airbus, rose 3.6 percent to close at $26.33 in Paris. The stock is still down 35 percent since the start of the year and 7.8 percent below its Oct. 3 closing price -- just before the European plane maker announced a second year of delays to its A380 superjumbo.
After concentrating massive resources on its 555-seater flagship A380, Airbus has been outmaneuvered by Boeing's two-engine 787, which delivers better fuel economy than older four-engine Airbus jets in the same size category -- a sales argument that has grown more persuasive as fuel prices rise. Boeing has more than tripled the number of orders won by Airbus so far this year.
Doubts had been growing over the $10 billion A350 XWB program outlined by Streiff in July as a competitor to Boeing's 787 and 777 jets. EADS is facing a financial crunch as a result of the A380 program's soaring costs and a weaker US dollar.
Tom Enders, the German co-CEO of EADS, suggested last week that the A350 might not be built at all.
Gallois, who formerly headed France's state-owned SNCF railway company, said the costly two-year A380 delay was not Airbus's biggest problem. ``The main handicap to Airbus' competitiveness against Boeing is the weakening of the dollar," he said.
