Former Lufthansa executive Nico Buchholz has joined a swelling rank of industry insiders on Bombardier’s top management team.
After being let go by Lufthansa as executive vice-president of fleet management last week, Bombardier is poised to announce that Buchholz is joining the Canadian manufacturer as head of procurement, a source confirms.
Buchholz had previously managed fleet acquisitions for Lufthansa, proving instrumental in the CSeries programme by signing on as launch customer in 2008.
After Malmo Aviation withdrew its status as launch operator, Buchholz brokered a deal with Bombardier to make Swiss International Air Lines, a Lufthansa subsidiary, the new CSeries launch operator.
Buchholz joins a completely revamped Bombardier executive team from only a year ago. Former chief executive Pierre Beaudoin agreed to step aside last January, appointing former United Technologies Aerospace Systems and Pratt & Whitney Canada executive Alain Bellemare as the new chief executive of Bombardier.
Bellemare also recruited two former airline and leasing operator veterans – Fred Cromer and Colin Bole – to head the company’s commercial aircraft division and commercial aircraft sales teams, respectively.
Now Buchholz will take over the chief procurement role, which is emerging as a strategic focus of the company. Last spring, Bellemare unveiled a plan to cut supplier costs as part of the strategy to recover from the delays and cost overruns that have afflicted the CSeries programme.
The first 110-seat CS100 is scheduled for delivery to Swiss in early 2016, or shortly after it receives type certification by the end of this year.
Additional reporting by Flightglobal finance editors Olivier Bonnassies and Laura Mueller in London
Source: Cirium Dashboard
