MD Helicopters has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy and its assets have been acquired by a new operating company, MD Helicopters LLC. As part of the reorganization, the company has appointed a new board, CEO, and senior executives.
The company is now 62 percent majority held by bond insurer MBIA, which will have three seats on MD's new seven-member board. The former ownership interests of Patriarch Partners and Lynn Tilton in the old MD have been eliminated. Ed Dolanski, who was previously president of the $10 billion U.S. government services business for Boeing Global Services, will serve as the board’s chairman.
Veteran aerospace executive Brad Pedersen has been named as CEO. Pedersen previously served as CEO of Breeze-Eastern—a company that manufactures hoists and related equipment for civil and military aircraft—and president of Airborne Systems Group, as well as rotorcraft management positions at Sikorsky and Boeing.
MD has also recruited executives to serve as CFO, v-p of aftermarket sales, and v-p of new aircraft production. The company will remain in Mesa, Arizona where it employs 250.
Pedersen said the company will focus on rebuilding product support for all of its models over the next two to five years while gradually ramping up aircraft production of its 500 series of single-engine helicopters from the handful currently on the line to 15 to 20 in 2023. He emphasized that the company’s focus will be on product support of the existing fleet with a heavy investment in spares. Pedersen said getting product support to an acceptable level required investment as well as stabilizing management and processes. “Most of our injuries have been self-inflicted,” he said.