Feature story
On the record with Jean-Yves Le Gall: Arianespace Chairman & CEO
April 27, 2007
At the annual general meeting on April 13, Arianespace's shareholders approved the company's profitable financial results of 2006, and its new Board of Directors named Jean-Yves Le Gall as Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Arianespace. Le Gall had been the company's Chief Executive Officer for the past five years, and he succeeds outgoing Chairman Jean-Marie Luton, who is retiring.
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In the following Q&A, Le Gall outlines his view of Arianespace's current and future approach to the international launch marketplace.
What are your initial thoughts as Arianespace's new Chairman & CEO?
First of all, I would like to thank Jean-Marie Luton for his dedicated service to Arianespace, and to the space sector in general. He consecrated his entire career to the development of European space, having occupied the highest positions in research, at government ministries, with the French and European space agencies - and of course, as Chairman of Arianespace.
Many decisions made during his leadership were vitally important for Arianespace. These include the cooperation with Russia that cleared the way for Soyuz' introduction at the Guiana Space Center, along with decisions to develop a family of launch vehicles and to evolve Ariane 5 as a true industry workhorse.
As a result, Arianespace is well positioned to maintain its leadership role in the commercial launch services industry.
What is Arianespace's commercial and operational status today?
Arianespace is clearly in a position of strength, and I am ready to build on its solid financial, operational and business footing. Our industry leadership is based on the value of our company's unique Service & Solutions offer, which responds to the needs of customers worldwide.
I want to underscore that "Service & Solutions" is more than just a slogan at Arianespace. It represents our comprehensive approach, which begins with a highly capable launcher family operated from the world's preferred launch site. This is backed by an industrial prime contractor team that provides launch vehicles manufactured in standard configurations and at stabilized production rates, and by Arianespace's first-class service that evolves with the market.
With this, Arianespace is the only launch service provider able - for the first time - to offer mission performance that is truly tailored to the full range of customer requirements.
How is Arianespace's outlook for 2007?
We are off to an excellent start, and our focus is on maintaining this pace. After the 12 launch services contracts signed in 2006, Arianespace already has added six new orders since January.
In bringing in this business, we have responded to the timing requirements of numerous customers, including booking several new payloads for launches this year on Ariane 5's trademark dual-satellite launches. My goal has been to sign a total of 10-12 contracts in 2007, and I foresee us reaching - and perhaps surpassing - this target.
Arianespace also is maintaining its tempo of success. After the five Ariane 5 and two Soyuz flights performed in 2006, we continue to target six heavy-lift Ariane 5 missions and three or four Soyuz launches for 2007.
With these forecasts, our business plan relies on purchase of a new production batch of 30-40 Ariane 5s - to be ordered during the second half of this year, which will be a key element in the long-term stability of Arianespace's heavy-lift launch offer.
What is your vision for Arianespace in the future?
The importance is to continue our value-added proposition in the launch services sector. We have the capability to meet customers' mission timing requirements today, and Arianespace is expanding its capacity for the long-term. Everything is on track for Arianespace to reach a pace of approximately 10 missions annually from 2010 - composed of a mix of Ariane 5, Soyuz and Vega flights from the Guiana Space Center.
Above all, I will continue to put the emphasis on quality. Recent developments in our industry have only reinforced the importance of Arianespace's business approach: quality has a price. Our entire team is dedicated to giving the satellite industry what it wants the most today - confidence in the launch services that it acquires, at the highest levels of reliability and quality.
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