Giuseppe Giordo, the CEO of Finmeccanica unit Alenia Aermacchi, has been replaced as Finmeccanica undertakes a springclean of senior management.
Giordo has been replaced by Filippo Bagnato, a veteran manager at the firm, who has previously run the Eurofighter consortium and ATR aircraft company, which Finmeccanica co-owns with Airbus.
Finmeccanica's strategy chief Giovanni Soccodato was appointed chairman of Alenia Aermacchi, Finmeccanica said in a statement announcing the changes late Thursday.
Giordo, who has overseen sales of the C-27J and the M-346 jet trainer, is one of around 50 managers to be shown the door by Finmeccanica Mauro Moretti, who has sought to cut costs and reduce the autonomy of the group's units since he arrived in April 2014.
The group has also dropped around 100 board members of group units, as the units undergo a transformation from companies to divisions.
In February, Finmeccanica's UK head Alberto de Benedictis left his post, after taking over the group's key UK operations in the UK in 2005.
Moretti's decision to drop Giordo comes at a tricky moment for Alenia Aermacchi. Although the M-346 has sold to Singapore, Israel, Italy and Poland, its bid to win the key T-X trainer contract in the US saw a setback this week when Alenia's US prime contractor partner on the offer, General Dynamics, withdrew from the team-up with the Italian firm.
New Alenia head Bagnato has decades of experience to call on. After working for Boeing between 1973 and 1975, he joined Aeritalia — the forerunner of Alenia — rising through the ranks until he moved in 1996 to join management at ATR, the regional turbo prop manufacturer Finmeccanica co-manages with Airbus.
After a stint running the Eurofighter industrial consortium, of which Alenia is a member, he returned to take over ATR from 2004 to 2007. Until his appointment at Alenia he was an Executive Vice President at Finmeccanica.
Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.
