Honda Aircraft Company Soars Under New Leadership

Upon Fujino’s retirement, Hideto Yamasaki plans to take the HondaJet into the future with a sharp customer focus.

Tuesday, July 26, 2022 at 09:18 AM ET

Verified

Hideto Yamasaki comes into the leadership role at Honda Aircraft Company from a long career in Honda sales and customer service. [Photo: Stephen Yeates]

Key Takeaways:

Honda Aircraft has a new CEO, Hideto Yamasaki, who brings a sales and marketing background from Honda's automotive sector, aiming to lead the company with a customer-focused approach despite the aviation industry's long cycles.
The company is expanding its global customer service network by adding four new locations, bringing the total to 21, to better support its growing fleet and strong pre-owned aircraft market.
Honda Aircraft has moved from having unsold planes to a nearly two-year production backlog, but faces ongoing challenges due to supply chain issues that are more complex to manage in certificated aircraft manufacturing.
Development of the HondaJet 2600 concept continues, with an update anticipated by the end of the year, as the company aims to build on the HA420's success and firmly establish itself in the business jet market with an advanced and sustainable product.

See a mistake? Contact us.

When the Honda Aircraft Company debuted its prototype HondaJet at EAA AirVenture in 2005, the project had been in the works for roughly 20 years. That’s the kind of long game that Honda Motor Company played as it considered its entry into the general aviation market. And it’s a concept that is inherent to the DNA of the company, made evident again in FLYING’s first talk with new Honda Aircraft CEO Hideto Yamasaki at Oshkosh 2022.

Yamasaki took on the role upon the planned retirement of Michimasa Fujino, the mastermind of the HA420 and its evolution up to this year. Yamasaki has spent nearly all of his career in Honda’s automotive sectors, in increasing leadership roles in Japan, the U.S., Turkey, and Ukraine.