Bombardier Inc. is beefing up the sales campaigns for its 100-149 seater CSeries aircraft by naming GE Aviation executive Chet Fuller as senior vice-president of sales and marketing at the commercial aircraft unit of Bombardier Aerospace.
The position is effectively new, since the top commercial aircraft sales slot has been vacant for a year. Now Bombardier has added "asset management" to the job, meaning Fuller will take responsibility for global sales and marketing of new and also used commercial aircraft.
He takes over at a crucial point when international competition is heating up, costs are rising and the airline industry has not fully recovered from the 2008-09 recession. Bombardier is selling turboprops and regional jets but in numbers reflecting the slowdown.
The CSeries program has a $3.4-billion tab and Bombardier, after taking 100 orders, has run into a dry spell.
Fuller was recently president of civil systems, GE Aviation, part of General Electric Co., overseeing development of the avionics, electric power, integrated propulsion, health monitoring and air traffic systems businesses. Before that he was vice-president, The Americas, at Honeywell Aerospace. He is a former U.S. Navy pilot.
"The CSeries will be an outstanding product ultimately changing the face of commercial aviation in the 100-149 seater segment," Fuller said. "With its turboprops, CRJ regional jets and the CSeries, Bombardier will have the most fuel-efficient, economic and quietest fleet anywhere."
Gary Scott continues as president of Bombardier Commercial Aircraft. With 25 years' experience in the aerospace and airline industries,
Fuller will bring "a fresh perspective as leader of our commercial aircraft sales and marketing team," said Scott.
The airlines' hesitation in placing firm orders for the CSeries may be partly due to the time being taken by Airbus and Boeing to decide on replacing the engines on their A320 and 737 families or replacing the planes with new designs, said Cameron Doerksen, analyst with National Bank Financial.
The industry believes Airbus will replace the engines on the A320, though that would be more costly on the 737 due to its basic design.
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