Éric Martel celebrates sixth year anniversary as Bombardier CEO

opinion

by Alasdair Whyte

April 13, 2026

Eric Martel, CEO, Bombardier

Éric Martel became CEO of Bombardier six years ago this week. It was not a great start. As he walked into his new office, the chief financial officer came in to tell him that all of the company’s facilities were now closed because of Covid.

Martel had accepted the job knowing it was going to be tough. Bombardier’s bet on the C-Series programme had nearly bankrupted the company. At the end of 2019, the company had 10 times more debt than its annual EBITDA. It had $2.6bn in cash and $9.3bn of debt. But Martel says he was always confident that a turnaround would be successful.

“The first nine months at Bombardier were difficult,” he tells CJI. “Things were very challenging that first morning and then during the summer where we had to go and borrow money from the market at very expensive rates to be able to get through until the sale of Bombardier Transportation was done. But I always saw the light at the end of the tunnel when I was going through it with the team. I never regretted my decision to come back. I never thought that we were not going to be OK.”

Martel first joined Bombardier in 2002 to run operations in North America. After that he was responsible for the Challenger programme and then added the Global portfolio as well. In 2008, after the global financial crisis, he was put in charge of quality and transformation for three years. He also ran Bombardier services and headed up business aviation.

In 2015 he left to run Hydro-Québec, one of the world’s biggest utility companies. This was also a turnaround project. When he joined the state-owned business, it was struggling. It had a record $3.5bn profit in 2021.

A lot of his first year as CEO of Bombardier was spent selling off parts of the company. The Canadair Regional Jet programme went to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for $550m; aerostructures in Belfast was sold for $500m to Spirit Aerostructures (it is now part of Boeing); and rail went to Alstom for €5.5bn. This all helped pay down debt.

By the third quarter of 2020, he was confident that business jet orders were going to increase quickly. In February 2021, after the sale of the rail business, he outlined a plan for the next three years. “They were bullish targets at the time, and a lot of people were doubting that we were going to meet them by 2025, but I was 100% convinced that we were going to get it done,” says Martel. The company did achieve these.

As well as selling more aircraft, Martel knew that services was going to grow fast. “We have more than 5,200 planes flying around the world and today, at any moment in time, we usually have about 375 planes with either planned maintenance or unplanned maintenance, in our network,” says Martel. “At that time, in 2021, it was 200. So, we’ve almost doubled the number of planes.”

His team had also identified opportunities for government sales. “In 2022, very few people were talking about defence but that was part of our strategy of growth, so we created Bombardier Defense,” he says.

In 2021 defence contributed about $250m in sales. In 2025 it accounted for $1bn.

“Defence is an amazing opportunity. As well as the geopolitical issues, many countries are reinvesting in surveillance and communication,” says Martel. “Our planes can fly at 51,000 feet. They can fly faster than what they were using previously. We have the reputation of having a very reliable platform and our planes are less costly to operate than the big aeroplanes they were using before.”

He says that there is still room to grow Bombardier Defense and services significantly. The company expects the two to account for 50% of the company’s sales by 2030.

Martel stresses that the turnaround has only been possible because of Bombardier’s employees. “We put the focus clearly on customers. It is a culture of authenticity. We’re saying amongst ourselves the right things and the truth. We put the problem on the table. We work it out together, so there’s a collective teamwork aspect also in the culture of our company that is very important,” he says.

Bombardier paid down $400m of debt in 2025 and ended the year with its net debt-to-earnings ratio at 1.9x. It is aiming to get this down to 1.5x. Martel says the turnaround process is officially over.

“We are generating something close to a billion dollars US of cash on a yearly basis, which gives us optionality; unfortunately previously the whole cash generation was paying interest on debt. Now we have the optionality to reinvest it in our business, to improve our products and to create new possibilities. Adding a billion dollars cash flow generation a year gives you options and flexibility,” he says.

With the Global 8000 now in service, the company is looking at its super-midsize Challenger aircraft. “One priority also for the next five years is to think about our product strategy. Product innovation has always been part of our DNA,” says Martel. “We are very happy with where we are, but you know, new technology comes in, we always look at what our competitors are doing and we want to make sure we stay at the front.”

Martel knows business aviation is cyclical, so is he tempted to leave when the market is strong? “No, not at all. I am so motivated, I come in the morning and I love what I do. I love this environment, we have an amazing customer base,” he says. “It’s a very unique business we have, so I am having fun, and I think I am going to have fun for the next few years, for sure. There’s a lot to be achieved here in growing this company and making it even stronger.”