We've just had the press release in announcing Bob Johnson's appointment as chief executive of Dubai Aerospace Enterprise. Interestingly, colleagues and I have recently had conversations about who would be the first DAE CEO and what had happened to Bob Johnson after he retired from running Honeywell Aerospace last year. Nobody linked the two.
If you're in a market that DAE wants to get into - and with operations planned in aircraft financing, component manufacturing, airports, aviation training, engineering and services that's quite a few - be very afraid. The company may be little more than a shell at present, but they have massive ambitions and the funding of one of the world's richest and entrepreneurial statelets behind them.
Johnson has a proven track record with Honeywell and other leading aerospace companies. And DAE's decision to appoint a member of the American aerospace establishment is an interesting one.
If you rememember, Dubai Ports World was earlier this year forced to abandon its attempt to buy container ports in the US following a political furore in Congress. Some normally statesmanlike senators and representatives - including Hillary Clinton - resorted to some frankly ridiculous war-on-terror scaremongering about Arab-owned interests controlling some of the most important entry points into the US.
Johnson is probably a good bet to charm DAE's target customers, particularly in the US, and persuade them that, despite its hugely ambitious plans, it won't bite.
More on this in the 18-24 July issue of Flight International.
What is Bob's email address?
Robert Menzies