The revelation of the share sales — made alongside disposals by his children and four other executives — came as Arnaud Lagardère, a joint chairman of EADS, said that he and his co-chairman would discuss whether to dismiss M Forgeard following the disclosure of delays in deliveries of the A380 superjumbo aircraft by Airbus, the EADS subsidiary.

The sense of chaos deepened when M Lagardère, the leading French private sector shareholder in EADS, launched an inquiry into what he called a “major crisis” at the group. Airbus’s difficulties have been compounded by widespread criticism of the long-haul A350, which is now likely to cost €8 billion (£5.46 billion), double the original estimate.

M Lagardère said that the investigation would also focus on the role of M Forgeard’s successor at Airbus, Gustav Humbert, a German, who had failed to tell EADS’s directors of the difficulties at a board meeting in May.

EADS shares plunged 26 per cent on Wednesday after it said that €2 billion would be wiped off its earnings in the next four years because of a new six-month delay in delivering the A380.

M Forgeard made a €2.5 million profit from the sale of EADS shares after exercising stock options on March 15, according to the French Financial Markets Authority.

During the next two days his three children, Louis, Catherine and Marie, each made €1.4 million from the sale of their shares.

During the same month, Jean-Paul Gut, head of marketing and strategy at EADS, made €1.15 million profit by exercising stock options; François Auque, head of the space division, made €365,000; Jussi Itavuori, head of human resources, made €1.2 million; and Stefan Zoller, head of the defence division, made €492,880.

Laurent Fabius, the former French Prime Minister, urged the AMF and the Government, which has a 15 per cent stake in EADS, to investigate whether executives were “aware of the problems and tried to profit from them”.

A spokesman for EADS said that M Forgeard, his children and his four colleagues had had “no specific information” about the A380 delays, caused by complications in electrical wiring, when they sold their shares.

Under EADS rules, stock options can be exercised only in a three-week period following the announcement of annual results, which took place on March 8.

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