ISTAT Jetrader - Spring 2022 - 10

PERSPECTIVES
Rafael Alonso
Retired President, Latin America &
Caribbean Region, Airbus
ISTAT has selected Rafael Alonso as the recipient
of the 2022 ISTAT Award. The ISTAT Award was
created in 2001 to honor individuals who have
made lasting contributions to the aviation industry
and is bestowed annually at the ISTAT Americas
President's Gala Dinner. Jetrader recently spoke to
Alonso about his background, challenging aircraft
sales he was involved in, the Latin American
market and more.
Jetrader: Congratulations on
being honored with the ISTAT
Award. Can you tell me a little
about your background?
Rafael Alonso (RA): I was born in
Madrid, Spain, where I obtained my
master's degree in airports, navigation
and air transport from the Polytechnic
School of Aeronautical Engineering. I
had the opportunity to move to Seattle
in 1980 to work as a design engineer
in Boeing's Renton plant in what was
called at that time the 7/7/7 division
(707, 727 and 737). It was really
exciting for a young engineer like me
to be part of the team designing the
rudder trim control in the, at the time,
innovative 737-300, where many of
the cables and pulleys that were used
to move flight control actuators were
being replaced by electrical systems.
Jetrader: You began as an engineer
before embarking on a very
successful role on the commercial
10 * THE OF F I C I AL PUBL I CAT I ON OF ISTAT
side of the business. How did you
make the move, and what were the
challenges and opportunities?
RA: When I decided, for personal
reasons, to return to Europe in 1983, I
found a job in customer support in the
Spanish CASA (one of the shareholders
of Airbus Industrie). After having
worked for a company like Boeing, the
transition to CASA was not easy at
all. Their method of working was far
from what I was accustomed to during
my time at Boeing. So I decided to
move forward and found that Airbus
was looking for a Spaniard to work in
Toulouse, France, as a sales director on
the Latin American team and decided
to apply for the position. The challenge
was enormous, as for an engineer
it is not always easy to understand
the nuances and peculiarities of the
commercial side of the business. It
was tough at the beginning, but with a
little bit of common sense (which, by
the way, as we say in Spain, is " the
ISTAT Jetrader - Spring 2022

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