Turboprop maker ATR has appointed Stefano Bortoli as its new chief executive following the recent departure of Christian Scherer to a senior position at Airbus.
Bortoli takes charge of ATR immediately, the airframer said in a statement on Monday (European time).
Previously, Bortoli was president of the ATR board and senior vice president for strategy, marketing development sales for Leonardo’s aircraft division.
Airbus and Leonardo are joint shareholders of ATR.
“I thank Christian for the crucial contributions he has made to ATR at commercial level as well as preparing the grounds for the future of ATR as a leader in the regional aviation,” Bortoli said in a statement.
“I am honoured to join the passionate and professional team of ATR and bring in my experience to continue to ensure ATR’s leadership in the market and position it for the future.”
Bortoli’s appointment came less than a week after Scherer, who had been ATR chief executive since October 2016, was announced as the new Airbus chief commercial officer.
Airbus said on September 13 Scherer would replace Eric Schulz, who decided to leave the company for personal reasons less than a year after Airbus named the former Rolls-Royce executive to replace John Leahy as Airbus’s chief salesman.
“We regret Eric Schulz’s decision. We wish him all the best for his future,” Airbus chief executive Tom Enders said in a statement.
Prior to his stint at ATR, Scherer had a number of roles at Airbus including as head of contracts, leasing markets, deputy head of sales, head of strategy and future programmes and head of marketing and sales at the company’s Defence and Space arm.
“With Christian Scherer we see one of our most customer-focused leaders at the commercial helm of Airbus,” Enders said.
“Over his various assignments I greatly valued his international mind-set, his strategic vision, and tremendous commercial expertise.”
