The reality is that, for the foreseeable future, Bombardier and our fleet operators will be competing with the commercial airlines for people who had traditionally flown first class. Yes, it’s more expensive, but there are clear benefits that will continue to be worth the cost for many of our customers. But customers who have used business jets are now accustomed to a new way to travel. When things get back to normal, there will be some who will return to commercial travel. At the same time, even when commercial air travel was available, people were concerned about their health and safety. At the height of the pandemic, a lot of people wanted to continue to move around, yet many commercial airlines were canceling flights. MARTEL: It’s been a very interesting phenomenon. Will the momentum continue as commercial air travel picks back up? S+B: The reduction of commercial flights during the COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented demand for private jet travel. In a recent interview, Martel talked about his approach to growth through innovation and sustainability. Under Martel’s leadership, Bombardier has committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, by increasing R&D spending on clean-product development and electrification and building a robust supply chain for sustainable aviation fuels, among other strategies. Aviation is currently responsible for about 12% of CO 2 emissions from all transport sources (business aviation accounts for about 2% of total aviation emissions). Martel returned to Bombardier at the start of the pandemic and, having led the company through the global crisis, now faces a daunting challenge: increasing revenue while making business jets more sustainable. He worked in a variety of divisions at Bombardier for 13 years before joining Hydro-Québec, a public utility in Canada, as CEO in 2015. Martel, 54, holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Laval University in Quebec City. And Bombardier’s balance sheet and results improved: for the year ended December 31, 2021, it reported business jet revenues of US$6.1 billion, a 7% increase from the same period in 2020. The Montreal-based company’s stock soared 260% in 2021, dramatically outperforming the S&P/TSX Composite Index (the benchmark Canadian index), which rose by 20%. Demand rose so dramatically that Bombardier couldn’t produce new jets quickly enough.
The COVID-19 pandemic led wealthy individuals and business executives to fly private in droves, many for the first time. His efforts have been helped in no small part by a historic increase in private air travel.
Martel’s aggressive transformation is part of a broader plan to make the company more resilient and fiscally sound after a decade marked by massive business-model change and organizational restructuring.
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