Bombardier Names New Commercial Aircraft Sales Chief

Bombardier Inc. replaced its sales chief for commercial aircraft, as the Canadian manufacturer tries to gain market traction for its new flagship jetliner while rivals Boeing Co. and Airbus have padded their order books.

Bombardier said Tuesday that Raymond Jones will take over as senior vice president of sales, marketing and asset management for its commercial aircraft unit. Mr. Jones is replacing Chet Fuller, who will leave Bombardier at the end of 2013 "to pursue other career opportunities." A Bombardier spokesman said Mr. Jones is taking up his new responsibilities immediately. The spokesman declined to offer additional explanation for Mr. Fuller's departure.

Bombardier is betting big on its CSeries jetliners, the largest aircraft the company has ever built. The CSeries planes compete with the smallest single-aisle jets from Boeing and Airbus, which have seen record sales in recent years for their 737 and A320 jetliners. Bombardier has a total of 419 orders and commitments from 16 customers, including 177 firm orders, for the CSeries since it officially launched the program with its first orders in July 2008. Some initial conditional commitments for the jet have been slow to materialize into firm orders. By comparison, Boeing and Airbus, a unit of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co., have more than 4,000 combined firm orders for upgraded versions of equivalent and slightly larger single-aisle jets.

The smaller of two CSeries models first flew in mid-September, but has been slow to accelerate its testing campaign. The company said recently it is evaluating its entry-into-service date, which is currently pegged for mid-2014.

Mr. Jones currently serves as vice president of world-wide strategic accounts for Bombardier's business aircraft unit, handling sales to business-jet operators NetJets Inc., Flexjet and Vistajet--all of which have placed significant orders for new aircraft in recent years. Netjets is a unit of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

"I am confident [Mr. Jones] will bring a global perspective to his new role, and will lead the commercial aircraft sales and marketing team to open new markets around the world," said Mike Arcamone, president of Bombardier Commercial Aircraft.

In addition to trying to accelerate sales of the CSeries jets, Bombardier also wants to add orders for its smaller, regional aircraft, which compete against Brazil's Embraer SA and turboprop aircraft from ATR, a joint venture between EADS and Alenia Aermacchi, a unit of Finmeccanica SpA.

Mr. Fuller joined Bombardier in 2010 from General Electric Co.'s aviation-products unit. His style often diverged from the more conservative approach favored by the Canadian airplane maker, causing internal tension about the most effective strategy to sell its 120-to-160-seat CSeries jetliner, according to people familiar with the situation. Externally, executives from CSeries customers Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Korean Air Lines Co. Ltd. have expressed concern about the company's marketing approach in the face of fierce competition.

Mr. Fuller couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

As a decadelong Bombardier sales veteran, Mr. Jones is likely to be provided more latitude by the company's leadership to operate in his new role compared with Mr. Fuller, said a person familiar with the situation.

Write to Jon Ostrower at [e-mail]

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