Helicopter manufacturer Eurocopter is to lose long-serving chief executive Lutz Bertling, who has resigned from the Marignane-based company for a position at Bombardier Transportation, the Canadian group's rail systems division.

He will be replaced at Eurocopter by Guillaume Faury, who has been executive vice-president for research and development at car maker Peugeot since 2010.

However, Faury is a former Eurocopter employee, working at the airframer from 1998 to 2008 where he held a number of posts including chief engineer on the EC225 programme, head of the heavy helicopter flight test department, and, ultimately, executive vice-president for research and development.

Bertling has headed up Eurocopter since November 2006, having served since 2003 as executive VP governmental helicopters. Before that, Bertling was with EADS military aircraft as vice-president of its Augsburg plant and aerostructures programmes, since 1999 - following six years with Adtranz, the then-DaimlerChrysler's rail systems business.

He will take over the position of president and chief operating officer at Bombardier Transportion's global headquarters in Berlin, from 3 June.

Tom Enders, chief executive of Eurocopter parent EADS paid tribute to Bertling. "During his tenure Eurocopter became more international, more innovative, and overall, more competitive. I thank him for all his work and wish him the best for his future," he says.

Source: Flight International