Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV), the company behind the Airlander airlifter platform, has appointed John H. (‘Jay’) Gibson, II to its newly established advisory board.
Gibson brings a wealth of experience to Hybrid Air Vehicles. He has held a number of senior roles across various aerospace and government organisations, including as the United States Department of Defense’s first Chief Management Officer and also the Assistant Secretary of the US Air Force.
Additionally, he has held several other senior roles across diverse aerospace organisations. His time as senior vice president, special mission aircraft for Beechcraft, with its well-known multi-mission King Air aircraft, is of particular relevance to Airlander’s multiple use cases in the global national security and commercial markets.
“It is an exciting time to join HAV’s advisory board,” comments Gibson. “Commercialising a new aircraft type is an incredible and rare opportunity. Airlander’s multi-mission capability, its vastly larger combination of payload space and airborne endurance and other unique performance capabilities make it a compelling product in civil aviation and national security roles. I look forward to supporting Hybrid Air Vehicles fast scale up of its production and market presence during this important phase of the business.”
Tom Grundy, HAV’s CEO, comments: “I’m so pleased to welcome Jay to the Airlander team. He brings immense experience, having established and fostered a successful multi-mission aircraft business, and provided leadership at the highest levels of the United States Department of Defense. Jay will be a great asset as we launch the Airlander 10 production programme and scale our business worldwide.”
Gibson will sit alongside other senior advisors to HAV on a newly-created Advisory Board. Selected advisors will bring knowledge and experience of key market segments and other specialisms complementary to the in-house capabilities of the Airlander delivery team.
The insights provided by the Advisory Board will help ensure that Airlander is delivered on-time and enters service in a safe and profitable manner with its growing customer base. Further appointments will be announced in the coming months.
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