Company Says Finding His Replacement Will Be "Challenging"

Bombardier said Wednesday that Gary Scott, its commercial-aviation division president, will retire Oct. 1, a decision made for personal reasons unrelated to the highly anticipated CSeries mainline aircraft. Guy Hachey, president and chief operating officer of Bombardier Aerospace, will serve as interim head until a replacement is named, the Montreal-based transportation giant said in a statement.

Photo Courtesy Bombardier

Scott (pictured), a longtime Boeing executive who led the 737/757 commercial- aviation division, joined Bombardier in 2004 to run its newly created commercial-aviation program and spearheaded the development of the all-new design CSeries single-aisle jet. The plane, seating 110-130 passengers, uses a new design largely of composite carbon fiber and promises lower maintenance costs and better fuel efficiency than other aircraft in its niche. "The CSeries aircraft program is tracking well, and with the program at this advanced stage, I feel very comfortable leaving it in the capable hands of my colleagues so I can devote more time to my family," Scott, 61, said in a statement.

Bombardier is betting its future in commercial aerospace on the CSeries, which makes its market debut in late 2013 and has forced Boeing and European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co.'s Airbus to rethink their narrow-body aircraft workhorses. "He really is the face of the CSeries and it's been his baby," said Scott Rattee, a transportation analyst at Stonecap Securities Inc., an independent securities firm. "You don't want to lose someone who has had such an impact on such an important aerospace program, particularly since he's so personally invested in the program. But, I do get the sense that he thinks the program is genuinely in very good shape," Rattee said. "The major decisions are in the can. At this point in time, it's a blocking-and-tackling, execution-type process. Having said that, replacing someone of his level of experience and recognition within the industry is going to be a very large challenge for Bombardier," he said.

Bombardier wasn't immediately available to comment if Scott might return in the future on a consulting basis. The company, which reports its quarterly results next week, didn't provide a time frame for naming a replacement.

Last week, Bombardier signed its ninth CSeries customer, Ilyushin Finance Corp. (IFC), a Russian aviation leasing company.

"There's no doubt in my mind we have a winner," Scott said in an interview last year from China, where the CSeries fuselage will be built. "This is truly a game-changing airplane, and it's really the reason I came to Bombardier because I knew and understood this market, and the need for a CSeries-like program. I also knew this was critically important to Bombardier to take them to the next level in their commercial aircraft business. This was not unlike when Boeing launched into the 747 program in the late 1960s," he said.

FMI: www.bombardier.com