Bombardier’s Learjet division is without a leader after a corporate restructuring led to the removal of one executive and the transfer of another.
Bombardier confirms that Ralph Acs has left the company as part of a broader restructuring.
Meanwhile, Acs’ brief replacement as vice-president and general manager (GM) of Learjet, Jean Séguin, has moved to lead the newly-created aerostructures and engineering services division.
Acs had served as the VP and GM of Learjet, ushering the re-engined and updated Learjet 70 and Learjet 75 models through development and into production.
Acs also was responsible for the Learjet 85, a mid-sized private jet that entered flight-testing last March more than a year late due to unspecified issues with the composite structure. Bombardier continues to review timing for the entry-into-service of the Learjet 85, as part of a wider rethink of priorities with the Global 7000 and 8000 programmes.
Although it was not announced previously, Bombardier had already moved Acs out of the Learjet division before he left the company. At the time of his departure, Acs held the position of senior VP for supplier management on the Global 7000 and 8000 programmes.
In Bombardier’s restructuring, company leaders decided that Acs’ position with the Global programme should be eliminated, a Bombardier spokeswoman says.
Séguin had briefly replaced Acs as the leader of the Learjet position, the spokeswoman says.
In early August, however, Bombardier dissolved the Aerospace division and split it into three standalone units, with the leaders of each reporting directly to company chief executive Pierre Beaudoin, alongside the head of the rail-focused Transportation division.
Séguin was re-assigned to lead the aerostructures and engineering services unit, which includes the former Short Brothers facilities in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and other facilities in Québec and elsewhere.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
