Deutsche Aircraft has chosen Nico Neumann for a dual leadership role alongside current chief executive Dave Jackson as the German firm’s proposed next-generation turboprop comes into focus.
Neumann, who has held multiple roles with 328 Support Services and Deutsche Aircraft for the past 18 years, will relinquish his role as chief operating officer and become co-CEO on 1 January.
He will work with newly appointed COO Olaf Lawrenz during the transition and continue progressing the company’s D328eco – a modernised and stretched variant of the original Dornier D328 turboprop.
As vice-president of operations and programmes, Neumann led the company’s aircraft production programme and supply chain team, “as well as being a key point of contact for the German government” and overseeing “numerous VIP modifications and maintenance programmes”.
He also heavily influenced Deutsche Aircraft’s decision to produce its D328eco turboprop in Leipzig.
The manufacturer is currently progressing a protytpe of the turboprop, which is now scheduled to enter service in 2027 after the company pushed back its development timeline earlier this year.
Its first flight-test prototype, known as TAC1, is due to get off the ground toward the end of 2025, Jackson told FlightGlobal last month. Operations at the Leipzig production line will start in 2027.
Deutche Aircraft, a division of the USA’s Sierra Nevada, considers the Canadian market ripe for replacing hundreds of ageing regional turboprops that are no longer in production.
Sales director Nils Heuer said in November that the country “needs a state-of-the-art, 21st-century regional aircraft” capable of operating on grass and gravel landing strips and travelling at near-jet speeds.
