Bombardier adviser has wealth of experience

Bombardier Inc.’s new strategic adviser has a tough job ahead of him as he untangles the problems that have sapped time, money and investor confidence from the commercial aircraft business. But he says there’s one thing that takes some of the pressure off: there’s nothing wrong with the CSeries.

“The (CSeries) is a great airplane that will deliver on its promises in terms of performance, in terms of economics,” Henri Courpron, chairman of Plane View Partners, said in an interview.

“That’s something I could not have fixed. If we were dealing with a situation where we have a bad airplane, what am I going to do about it?”

As part of a broader management shuffle, Bombardier announced last week that it hired Courpron and his firm to conduct “an extensive review of Bombardier Commercial Aircraft’s operations, with the objective of improving its overall performance.”

As he puts it, he’s there to “ask a lot of questions.”

Courpron has considerable experience in the industry. He spent 20 years at Airbus Group NV in a number of management positions, including CEO of the company’s North American business. He was also chief executive of aircraft lessor International Lease Finance Corp. (ILFC), the same company Bombardier’s new president of commercial aircraft, Fred Cromer, was hired from.

“I’ve been a manufacturer of airplanes, I’ve been a salesman of airplanes, I’ve been a buyer of airplanes, I’ve financed airplanes for ILFC, I’ve leased airplanes for ILFC,” Courpron said.

“I think what they appreciate in our background is this almost 360-degree view of all aspects of the business.”

Bombardier has been suffering from ongoing delays and cost overruns in the CSeries program, forcing it to make a number of tough financial and personnel decisions in the past few months. Perhaps the most pressing concern is the lack of firm orders for the jetliner.

Courpron described it as a “very challenging program” because of its ambition. The CSeries is advertised as offering “a 20 per cent fuel burn advantage and a 15 per cent cash operating cost advantage over in-production aircraft in its class.”

“With complexity and ambition in terms of innovation comes execution challenges, and they’ve had their fair share,” Courpron said, adding that Boeing Co. and Airbus have faced similar difficulties with new products. kowram@nationalpost.com twitter.com/kristineowram