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.
