Bombardier CEO: Éric Martel – Engineering, Craft, & Building the Fastest Aircraft Since Concorde

The Gstaad Guy sits down with Éric Martel, CEO of Bombardier, at the company's completion centre in Montreal with the Global 8000 behind them, to explore how a snowmobile inventor from a small Quebec town became the foundation of one of the world's great aerospace companies. Éric reflects on a career that began on the factory floor and a company whose defining trait is a willingness to take on things it has never done before, from building metro cars without ever having built a train to inventing the regional jet. The conversation gets into what actually separates one aircraft from another once you are past the specification sheet, and why the company still gathers the people who built each plane to meet the family taking it home. Éric is candid about the supply constraints no amount of demand can solve, the buyers now arriving in their twenties and skipping straight to the flagship, and what he looks for in the people he hires across engineering, design and everything in between. Warm, precise, and unmistakably proud of where it is all made, it is a conversation about craftsmanship, national identity, and the pursuit of perfection at scale. Filmed at the Bombardier Completion Centre in Montreal. (00:00) Intro ✨🎙️ (03:41) It Started With A Snowmobile 🏔️🛷 (05:46) He'd Never Built A Train 🚂😮 (07:28) Canadair, Learjet And The Regional Jet ✈️🇨🇦 (12:01) A Family Business At Twenty Thousand People 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦🏭 (14:27) The Ceremony Room 🏛️✨ (16:50) Ten Days To Become An 8000 🏔️💪 (17:59) Why You Land Rested 😴✈️ (19:24) Four Countries, Four Days 🌍⚡ (20:32) The Wing Is The Secret Weapon 🛩️🔑 (22:47) Thirty Minutes Or Two Days ⏱️🗺️ (24:07) What Bombardier Means To Canada 🇨🇦🏆 (29:22) Hydropower And Perfect Stitching 💧🧵 (30:41) The Craft You Can Touch 🤲✨ (32:51) We Invented The Winglet ✈️💡 (34:15) Inside The US Market 🇺🇸📈 (36:13) They're Knocking At Twenty Seven 🚪⏳ (38:11) How To Be A Good Guest On Board 😊✈️ (40:06) The Pen That Popped 🖊️✨ (42:46) From The Factory Floor To CEO 🏭👔 (47:17) The Plane That Calls Ahead ✈️📞 (51:04) Everyone Wants Theirs First 🏆⚡ (53:10) À La Poubelle vs. Fantastique 🗑️✨ (53:52) Luxury That Actually Works 💎✅ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices