NAFA members Alasdair Whyte, Editor and Co-Founder, and Alud Davies, Asia Editor, with Corporate Jet Investor, share their article on David Coleal's return to Bombardier.
David Coleal re-joined Bombardier in 2015 as part of its turnaround team. Now thing are looking a lot brighter.
A lot of exciting things are happening at Bombardier Business Aircraft. New aircraft are being delivered, new models developed, upgrades made to existing aircraft and serious investment in services. You can sense the confidence in the division. So, it is perhaps surprising that one of the words that David Coleal, president of Bombardier Business Aircraft, uses a lot when he is talking about the future is the word “prudent.”
This partly reflects the wider organization. Bombardier is midway through a company-wide turnaround plan after problems with the CSeries commercial aircraft and the key theme of its December 2018 New York Investor Day was that things are very much on track.
But it also reflects how Coleal sees his role. Coleal and his colleagues are keen to be innovative and take risks, but they have to deliver on their plan.
Since Coleal returned to the company in 2015 he has been delivering on his promises. In the past five years the OEM has: delivered more business jets in its class than any other manufacturer (although Gulfstream wins on dollar amount); grown its backlog to $14.3 billion, the biggest in the industry; certificated the newly delivered Global 7500 and; launched the Global 5500 and Global 6500. He has also reshaped the business, selling its training business to CAE, while investing heavily in its own service network.
“You’ve seen the numbers that we have posted over the past three-and-a-half years,” says Coleal, “driving our earnings, doubling our earnings, continuing to improve and drive our service and support and delivering the best aircraft in the industry including the Global 7500.”
Coleal is speaking at a time when he and his team are still on a high from the delivery of the first Global 7500 to Stonebriar, a leading business jet financier.
With a range of 7,700 nautical miles the Global 7500 is the longest-range dedicated business jet available – capable of flying between New York and Hong Kong without stopping.
But the Global 7500 is not just about flying far. It is fast, capable of flying at Mach 0.925, and it is big. The Global 7500 has a cabin 10 feet longer than other Global models. With four living spaces and the largest kitchen (an area where Bombardier knows passengers like to congregate) the aircraft is exciting loyal customers as well as new ones. “The 7500 has been an amazing journey,” says Coleal. “It is going to set the standard for the industry of what people expect for this size and class of aircraft. We just couldn’t be prouder. We are elated that we’re delivering.”
Launched in 2010, the Global 7500 (then branded the Global 7000) was delayed in 2015 – just after Coleal joined – due to issues with the design of the wing. The manufacturer then told customers that it would be ready in 2018.
There was a lot of pressure on Coleal and his colleagues to make this happen. In fact, delayed certification was identified in 2018 by Alain Bellemare, Bombardier’s CEO, as one of the two biggest risks facing the whole company. Coleal also did not want to let customers down.
“We met our commitments to our customers,” says Coleal. “The customers that have been in the backlog for many years are incredibly excited. I stay close to them with regular updates, and we exceeded both range and field performance, so everything about the aircraft is going extremely well.”
The delivery of the Global 7500 is also a significant boost to the whole company.
“This marks the dawn of a new era,” says Coleal. “We're basically making history with the delivery of this first aircraft and its entry into service.”
But he is being prudent about Global 7500 deliveries. Following the first delivery in 2018, Coleal says that Bombardier is planning to deliver between 15 and 20 Global 7500s in 2019 - around three to five aircraft in the first half of the year with most coming in the second six months. He says that this is to ensure that the first customers have a good experience and that the entry into service is as smooth as possible. In 2020 he plans to deliver between 35 and 40 Global 7500s.
Bombardier is also focused on building the new aircraft efficiently. Fitting the interior into the first Global 7500 took less time than it normally takes to complete a Global. Coleal says that Bombardier has also taken delivery of all of the parts it needs for its 2019 deliveries, so is confident that there will be no supply chain issues.
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This article was originally published in Corporate Jet Investor's CJIQuarterly Q1 2019, p. 19.
