Graham Warwick/ATLANTA
BOMBARDIER HAS moved quickly to limit damage caused by the departure of business-aircraft division president Bryan Moss for rival Gulfstream, where he will become vice-chairman. John Lawson, formerly vice-president, marketing and sales, has been promoted to replace Moss, a key figure in development of the Global Express long-range business jet as a direct competitor for the Gulfstream V.
Moss will also be chief executive officer of Gulfstream Aircraft, a new wholly owned subsidiary responsible for all marketing, sales, completion and support, of the GIV and V. He and other senior managers, will have shareholdings in the parent company Gulfstream Aerospace and Moss cites, the "entrepreneurial aspect" of the job, as one of his reasons for moving.
Lawson admits that Moss' resignation of 9 March "...came as a complete surprise to everyone at Bombardier", and the initial reaction was "shock and consternation". Moss was "...very closely identified with the Global Express", he says, and key customers were contacted immediately Lawson was appointed, to assess their reaction. "Nobody has wavered", he says, adding, "It is business as usual".
In promoting the Global Express against the GV, Moss was always careful not to attack Gulfstream and he is equally unwilling to criticise his former employer or its products. "What I said about the Global Express in the past speaks for itself," he says, while acknowledging that "...the long-term strength I see in [Gulfstream's] products and programmes is a significant factor in my move."
Lawson says that Bombardier remains "very confident that the [Global Express] programme will be executed as planned". First flight, is due in the late third quarter of 1996, less than a year after the GV is scheduled to be flown. Gulfstream says that the GV is on schedule for a first flight on 15 November.
Source: Flight International
