The Ways We Move: Montreal is the Integrated Hub of Advanced Air Mobility

Join host Nicolas Zart in this episode of "The Ways We Move" as he delves into the world of advanced air mobility with industry veteran Hany Mustafa. 

Discover why Montreal is becoming a pivotal hub for aviation innovation and how collaboration between government, private companies, and educational institutions is driving this transformation. 

Hany shares his insights on the future of mobility, the role of education, and his motivation to keep pushing the boundaries of aviation. 

Don't miss this engaging conversation that highlights the unique ecosystem of Montreal's aerospace industry. 

Tune in to learn more about the exciting developments in advanced air mobility and what it means for the future of transportation, or watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/uWM8n9Op3MQ

Chapter Index

1. 00:00 - Introduction to The Ways We Move Podcast
   • Nicolas Zart introduces the podcast and its focus on innovative mobility solutions.
2. 02:00 - Guest Introduction: Hany Mustafa
   • Nicolas introduces Hany Mustafa, highlighting his extensive experience in the aviation industry.
3. 05:00 - Montreal as a Hotspot for Advanced Air Mobility
   • Discussion on why Montreal is a significant location for aviation and advanced air mobility.
4. 10:00 - Collaboration Between Government and Private Companies
   • Insights into how government and private sectors work together in Montreal's aviation industry.
5. 15:00 - Educational Opportunities and Internships
   • Overview of how universities in Montreal support students with internships in the aviation sector.
6. 20:00 - Advanced Air Mobility Institute
   • Details about the creation and focus of the Advanced Air Mobility Institute in Montreal.
7. 25:00 - Hany Mustafa's Motivation and Career
   • Hany shares his passion for the industry and his reasons for continuing to work in aviation.
8. 30:00 - Closing Remarks and Future Events
   • Nicolas and Hany discuss upcoming events and encourage audience engagement.

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Transcript

Nicolas Zart (00:01)
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are. And welcome to another episode of The Ways We Move, the podcast where we talk about innovative mobility solutions and the people driving them, by the way. So basically, what is up and coming in the world of transportation mobility? How will you get to work, go ⁓ on a cruise, go anywhere, basically, anything that links all the different modes of

of traveling that we've had up until now. And of course, we talk a lot about advanced air mobility because it not only is the future, but it has a lot of potential to bring everything together, to wrap it all together. And we'll see why. And well, obviously, if you've been following the podcast, you will see why. My name is Nicolas Zard and I will be again your host on today's podcast. And I'm smiling because I have, well, yet again, another special guest, special invitation.

⁓ I've known Hany Mustafa for many years and I am always amazed by this person. This is someone who has been in the aviation industry since the early 70s. So he's seen it all, all the big changes, if you can think about it, know, from going to... ⁓ Anyway, all the big changes he's seen. But he's also embraced advanced air mobility, almost...

about 10 years ago, much like me too. And he tells us a little bit more about what's happening in the Quebec area, specifically in the Montreal area. Every time I hear Hany, I learn something new. Every time I see him talk anywhere around the world, I'm thinking, wow, this is amazing what these guys have over there. So this time I asked him to sort of wrap it all together and tell us.

Why is Montreal such a hot spot for advanced air mobility, such a hot spot for aviation? And traditionally it has always been. So I hope you will like this podcast because we talk about not only why Montreal is important in the advanced air mobility industry and probably a very unique hotspot that you can't find that anywhere else in the world, but why also the government works really well with private companies and funding and

I wouldn't say subsidizing, at least funding all of that to work really well together. What universities are doing to make sure that their students find the right kind of internships and get hired after that? And then lastly, well, you know, we always end up with the same question. Why are you doing this? You should be retired by now living somewhere in the Bahamas or I don't know where. And so Hany tells us all of that. I hope you've enjoyed. You will enjoy this ⁓ episode because.

Hany is a wonderful and dear friend of mine and someone I always look up to because of his insight, his not just advanced mobility insight, but aviation around all around aviation. And as usual, please like, subscribe, share and write down your comments. Tell us a little bit more about what is your understanding of the future of mobility? What is innovative to you? What does advanced mobility and and

Do you think it should be part of your future? Will it be part of your future? What is your understanding of AAM? And if you are listening to us or watching us, you probably know what it is by now. Again, share, like, subscribe and comment. We would love to hear from you guys. And without any further ado, we will hear from Hani, Hani Mustafa. And I, for once, I can't give you all the titles that he has because this man is

is everywhere and he doesn't miss a beat. He has many titles. You can check him out on LinkedIn. ⁓ His name is spelled H-A-N-Y and then Mustafa M-O-U-S-T-A-P-H-A. It's spelled the French way. And of course, we speak French very often and you'll hear a little bit of French slipping in and out of this podcast. But we certainly hope you've enjoyed this and we'd love to hear your comment and feedback on it. Thank you, Hany take it away.

Speaker 1 (04:12)
See you week.

Speaker 2 (04:13)
So Hany please introduce yourself. Who are you and what are you doing? I've known you for a long time now.

Speaker 1 (04:20)
Okay, thank you very much for this introduction, Nicolas. My name is Hany Mustapha. I'm stationed here in Montreal. So I had very close to 35 years of experience with Pratt and Whitney Canada as their Director of Technology and Collaboration. Actually, I did my Master and PhD also for Pratt and Whitney Canada. That's why they hired me. So I was responsible for all the technology program for Pratt and Whitney collaboration.

with Europe, with China, with USA, of course. And also I sit representing Pratt & Whitney in the academia since 2000 on the NATO Applied Vehicle Technology Panel, which deal with all aircraft engine, et cetera. What I'm doing now actually is after my retirement from Pratt & Whitney for the past 15 years, I am with University of Quebec Ecole Technologie Supérieure, which is engineering school of University of Quebec.

And what I'm doing, was director of the aerospace program at Ecole Technologie Supérieure, but in a nutshell, what I'm doing now today, you know, is first of all, I have an industrial share with Pratt & Whitney Canada on multidisciplinary design optimization of aircraft engine. And normally the industrial share is funded by Pratt & Whitney and the government, and I have students stationed at Pratt & Whitney. I have another share also with Siemens Energy on

industrial engine, industrial engine, again design optimization, et cetera, you know. So I have these tests in 2010 and they're gonna go on till 2028 So I have very close to 15 students. In addition to that, over the last six years, what I'm doing is we created in Quebec a very nice network of eight universities, five engineering school, three business school, which are the top universities in Quebec. And we call that the SDG.

SDG stands for Smart Digital Green. And at the same time, as we know, this is acronym of Sustainable Development Goal of the United Nations. It started as 4.0 and after that, as you know, 4.0 is gone, 5.0 is coming. After that, X.0. So I guess we decided to brand it and it's a trademark actually, Smart Digital Green for us, innovation. It's a network, as I mentioned, of eight universities. We have very close to $45 million

funding from big company like Alstom, Pratt & Whitney, Siemen, et cetera, and also small medium enterprise, plus the government also put money. And we are doing education research and reach out, you know, et cetera here. And I have between 200 and 300 professors between the eight universities. We have a research committee and we have forum every year. What, did you do part of that?

because we are in Montreal and as you know Montreal, the activity when it comes to aviation is huge, huge, know? This is what you call civil aviation capital, know, because it's one of the very few cities within 30 kilometers you can design an aircraft totally here because we have Airbus, we have Boeing we have Bombardier, we have Bell Helicopter, we have all the engine people like Pratt, like Rolls Royce, like...

like Mecaer Dautier Safran, which is et cetera here. So we have all the company plus CAE for simulation, Eredivtech, Mecaer Dautier. So we have everything. Plus we have of course, ICAO we have IATA, all of these things. So we have everything, plus we are very fortunate because we have four university in Montreal, two English, two French, very high concentration of students per capita It's one of the highest when I talk about aerospace. So we're fortunate with that.

And of course the government is funding us a lot. And that's why exactly I'm gonna come to the main thing of what our discussion, Nicolas, which is they created what you call the aerospace innovation zone. and we have three zone and the zones are attached to the three airports which we have. So we have the Montreal Trudeau Airport, which is the main one, international. In addition to that, we have Mirabel,

Airport, used to be international. we have St. Hubert also, which is on the South Shore. So these are the three airports. And now here, the three poles out of those zones are in each one of those. And around each one of those, if you look at St. Hubert, we have Pratt & Whitney, we have Aerodeftec, we have the Canadian Space Agency, we have Ecole Nationale Aéronautique, know, Center of Aerospace Technology.

When you look at downtown here, or at least Saint Laurent, where you have Montreal, Trudeau, you have the Bombardier of the world, you have CAE, you have, CMC. When you go to Mirabel, also you have lots of companies, Prat again, Bombardier, you have Bell Helicopter, you have MHI, you have Airbus, with of course, 220, which is all Bombardier series. So you can see the concentration is huge, huge.

Based on that, the network here which I'm leading, we decided two years ago to create an advanced air mobility institute because after the zone has been created, the focus of the zone is number one on advanced air mobility and also decarbonization, cetera, electrification, all of that. That's the focus in addition to other stuff.

Speaker 2 (09:32)
And also just to say something, it has nothing to do with the AAM Institute here in the United States. This is something that you guys have on your own, right? People need to understand that you have nothing to do with that.

Speaker 1 (09:40)
Absolutely.

Absolutely.

As a matter of fact, we put, the acronym for us is SDG-AAM. And SDG, so we have to attach it to the network because it gets funding from the government through the network. So we have to make sure that it is part of the network. So it's called SDG Advanced Air Mobility Institute. And it is, as I mentioned, the eight universities are involved. We have an executive. The story of it started again with announcement of the zone, which is in May, 2024.

After that at Farnborough actually, we made like big progress and we had partnership guess with who? With Airport de Montreal, which is exactly, and that's big, that's big because we airport beside us. And it just happens that I know very well the president, director general, the airport of Montreal, Yves Bouchon. He's a mechanical industrial engineer by the way. And he's the one and he used to be the PDG of Ecole Technologie Supérieure

and I know him for almost 30 years and he's the who hired me. He's the one who hired me.

Speaker 2 (10:44)
So he has experience, he's an engineer and he runs an airport. That's pretty high credit, right?

Speaker 1 (10:49)
there.

So wow. Can you you imagine here the first thing he did here he hired somebody to be VP of technology and innovation. An excellent lady Vivienne Schwa and we are working with her. So we have a very nice team and he started building people from who retired from CAE from Pratt & Whitney from Bombardier. So he has now a team of people because he has two mandate. The first mandate is to develop the Trudeau airport.

what we call Yule, you know, Yule Airport, because now the capacity is about 18, 19, 20 million passenger per year. So he's projecting about 35 million in 2035. So he has almost like a $10 billion investment for the next 10 years to have more ramps, to have more things. And now we have the RAM, which is the Réseau Express de Métropolitaine, which is which is a monorail, you know, of Alstom.

which is going to connect of course to the airport. So we have a big thing happening with that. And that's why we're helping also because there are lots of the terchnologies which were developing, which can fit also for you. In addition to that, have the Mirabel is called YMX. YMX is at Mirabel. So they have a facility there. They bought a new facility and they want to have all kinds of testing of eVTOL That's the whole plan now. So at Farnborough they announced that they're gonna

give us funding, very close to one and a half million dollar funding for the institute to do many research projects. have five, we have five research projects actually, with a contribution of very close to two million from him. In addition to that, also we're going to get something from maybe Wisk, Jaunt Beta, there are different companies also involved. So with this two million, I can go and get another maybe

8 million from the government for student to support them for the next three to five years. So that's what we are doing now. And we created an institute in order to manage that. And an institute we have two areas. We have the research branch, which is led by one of the professor we have in the network. And we have the educational brand because I mean, you have to educate the people. have to have,

Like your program, exactly. Your program which you are doing all of that here. need that for sure.

Speaker 2 (13:03)
Yeah,

that's something that we're all saying is education is very key right now. We know the technology is working. It has been working for a while. Regulation is what we're waiting on. But in the meantime, education, education, education. So my question to you is, I think most people don't realize how Quebec is such a hot spot when it comes to aviation and aerospace, and also why you have so many companies out there. So historically, why was this region of the world, which you don't always think about,

It's cold in the winter, right? You don't think about as being an aviation hotspot. Historically, what made Quebec such a hotspot for aviation, according to you?

Speaker 1 (13:40)
That's a very good question because I have been with Pratt & Whitney as you know since the early 70s. So it's very close to almost over 55 years now if I include my master and PhD. So I have witnessed the growth and the move of so many companies. Of course, it goes back to Pratt & Whitney Canada, which is a branch of Pratt & Whitney in the USA, when it was only maintenance repair for piston engine etc. And after that we stopped developing our turbo prop which is a PT6 engine etc.

So it started spreading with you. And we are mainly, Platinum Whitney Canada is mainly a turbo prop, turbo fan, turbo chef, up to 80 passenger, APU, et cetera. After that you have also Bombardier. the Havilland in term of also air. Exactly. Canada Air, all of that. So there is a history behind that. You have also CAE simulation, is a Canadian company. You have CMC, which used to be Marconi,

Speaker 2 (14:22)
Canada

Speaker 1 (14:35)
So we had already at least four or five big company to do that. In addition to that, the Quebec government realized that this is a niche for us because you have an aircraft company, you have an engine company, you have a simulation company. So they start attracting so many, like Bell Helicopter, by the way, was only established in the 70s. MHI moved recently, like five, six years ago. Airbus only moved recently,

when they acquired the C series as you know. mean, Saffron also, these are all newcomers. they realize here, mean, Montreal is a very multicultural city, number one. It is. Exactly. There is a big pool of student and university. And Quebec, we have so many programs.

Speaker 2 (15:14)
Beautiful it is.

Speaker 1 (15:23)
joint master of aerospace program between the six top universities in Quebec. That's an example. We have a consortium which before even advanced air mobility, we have a consortium which is called Advanced Montreal Aerospace Institute, which has six universities, the four in Montreal, Las Laval, Sherbrooke. We have CREAC also, which is government funded, which is a consortium to do industry driven. So all of these have brought lots of investment

So your answer, in addition to that, of course you have the IQ here, which has been here for so many years. So when you put all of that, it was attractive and it just kept on growing

Speaker 2 (15:59)
it's something to have all of those companies out there, which of course makes it a wonderful place and an amazing place you want to go to. But it's also another thing to now embrace the future of aviation, adventure, mobility. So tell me a little bit about that. How did that happen? Because I've noticed my experience, 50 % of the people are it's hype will never happen. And then the other 50 % are like, all right, we're thinking about it. But there are not a lot of people like you and me who are futurists and see it happening. So how did it happen in your neck of the woods?

Speaker 1 (16:26)
It's happened even myself, you know, I mean, I start knowing, of course I know electric aircraft because when I was a Pratt & Whitney, we have more electric engine where you can use some of the power from the turbine here to drive some of the accessory, et cetera. So the issue about more electric engine is not new for us, have tilt rotor, we have been working on tilt rotor. I'm talking if I put my Pratt & Whitney hat, Canada hat.

So recently, obviously, was also hype, which is going in USA as far as, Archer Joby, what's happening in Europe, and also all the drive for electrification and low emission, low noise, all of that, as you know, here, when you have distributed propulsion, you automatically have low noise. that's of course, so I mean, eVTOLs you can see before you hear it, if you know what I mean, so that's absolutely. So we know about all of that same. So

it started growing for the last five, six years with the rest of the world, actually. So we say here, cannot, we cannot trade. We have to be part of that. And that's why here's the emphasis from the government creating lots of money consortium fund available for that. So we have so many federal and provincial, by the way, too, for sustainable aviation, fuel, let's say for electrification, for the HEPs, hybrid electric propulsion system. I'm working.

I'm working on a big project with Pratt & Whitney Canada on that. I have students work on that actually. So I'm involved in that myself in terms of research-wise. So all of that to answer your question, it's part of the momentum and the growing and the funding which is being done mostly in Quebec, but also federal, give us money. But it is mostly, it's Quebec number one. And don't forget, aerospace is the only industry in Canada which has a trade surplus, by the way. Yes.

Speaker 2 (18:14)
Hello, so are you saying something about maybe that's why there's a little bit of a tariff war for right now? Hello? ⁓

Speaker 1 (18:21)
This

is the only industry with a surplus in terms of that, everybody else. Second, as you know, we have 80 aerospace in Canada, which is, are number four, you know, behind USA, France, and England. We are very close to Germany, actually. And as you know here, we are talking about $30 billion Canadian per year. We are talking also about very close to $1.5 billion in terms of R &D, about 100,000 working.

100,000 people work in Canada. And don't forget also that we have 80 % export. 80 % of the aerospace is exported by the way, in January. So that's why the trade surplus by the way.

Speaker 2 (19:05)
And it's starting to make a lot of sense now because I finally figured out why they have tariffs against Mexico, but I couldn't understand against Canada. this actually now, well, hang on a second. I don't think it makes sense. I understand why I'm not justifying it or not. But yeah. OK, thanks for saying that, because that actually shines a very big light on what's happening. ⁓

Speaker 1 (19:13)
is the

It's very big as I mentioned and just to complete the story, as far as the advanced immobility, that's why lots of people and as you know, this is new and lots of and it makes sense. It makes sense and it's needed. Now you're going to drive you. What's in it for Quebec? Because we don't want to be, we don't want to be the me too. If you know what I mean, don't forget that we have very, what you call the RÉGION ÉLOIGNÉE which is a remote region for the first nation for the autoctone. As you know, how can we reach them?

by the way. That's one story. How can I reach them, you know, in terms of delivering medical,

Speaker 2 (19:58)
everything education everything ⁓

Speaker 1 (20:01)
And

Canada is wide, because we're the second in terms of surface area after Russia, by the way, as you know. So it's very vast. Of course, we're second in terms of surface area, surface area

Speaker 2 (20:16)
this area. Yeah, superficie, yeah. Anyway, that's true. So yeah, it's like all the ingredients are there. And it's so you know, please go on.

Speaker 1 (20:25)
Sorry, plus sorry, the manpower, by the way. I mean, don't forget that. The manpower, because we have lots of discussions with Dubai that wanted us to help them, et cetera. And of course, they have the money with all my respect, they can do things, but they don't have the manpower which we have here. We historically, we have, I can give an example, Nicolas. mean, let's say my university where I am here, it's an engineering school. It's 10,000. Okay. We have every year, we have 3,000 students doing internship.

at aerospace company. Wow. 3000 per year. out of the 3000, I'm sorry, correction, about 600 doing aerospace internship four months paid at company, which is in Montreal, by the way. That's That's ATS only. you add McGill and Concordia and Polytechnique, you're talking about 1000 students being trained four months paid on relevant project. And after that, they get hired by the way.

Speaker 2 (21:08)
us.

Speaker 1 (21:20)
Okay, so it's a huge machine, by the way. It's a huge machine. Anyway.

Speaker 2 (21:25)
So, so it's what you're saying is really interesting because I was speaking with professor Marilyn Smith who's a know, dear friend of ours at Georgia Tech Yes, and she's actually been on the on the podcast before she was ⁓ telling me that the last few months have been spent in trying to figure out where is the money going to come for research and Please do not defund NASA. So it sounds like you guys don't have that problem It sounds like you have a government who's still willing to do the right things, but it also seems like you found the right balance

private companies are giving, the government is giving, and then education is the centerpiece, and of course research, which obviously makes an industry go round, right? So that's very encouraging.

Speaker 1 (22:06)
This

is new, the way. This is new. It started exactly in 2000. So it's 25 years only. The birth of collaboration of industry university mushroomed only starting in 2020. And I was part of that because I was a president with the Canada director of technology. Wow. And I was involved into creating the aeromontreal cluster. That's a cluster of aeromobility of industry university, research center government.

which has been, was part of the people who created that. I was part of the people who also created CREAC, which is a consortium of research of aerospace in innovation in aerospace in Quebec. I was part of the consortium of Montreal Aerospace Institute. I was part of all of these happening, if you know what I mean. it's mushroomed since 2020 and it was like, it's just mushroomed, know. If something's happening, build something else, give more money, et cetera. So I would-

myself you know I mean let me put the test

Speaker 2 (23:05)
It's interesting because it goes back to what a marketing world we live in because you hear a lot of people talk, right, obviously, and we're going to name names, but you don't always hear about what you guys are doing. And of course, I know because I've been talking to you for a few years now and I've been trying to write more about it. But every time I talk to you, every time I listen to you, every time you say something, I learn something more about what else is happening in Quebec. And it is absolutely astounding.

And it surely sounds like you're way more active, at least more integrated as an entire industry and an ancillary than anywhere else in the world so far, as far as I can see.

Speaker 1 (23:41)
ecosystem is strong and I'm gonna tell you we have lots of people from Ohio from Florida they come and visit us and they envy us from Brazil from even England from Germany from France by the way because we have a cluster which is very strong it helped us also the geography helped us by the way because don't forget we are all in Montréal if you go to France they have three different aerospace clusters if you know what I mean

Speaker 2 (24:08)
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (24:09)
In Italy they have two, in England they have two. I mean, Midwest and whatever, know. But here we are all in Montreal. Of course, something is happening in Toronto, Something is happening in Vancouver. the main aerospace is, it's like automotive is Ontario, as you know, close to Windsor, Detroit, et cetera. And here we are the aerospace hub of Montreal. And that's, mean, listen, I mean, Montreal, as you know, you have Toulouse and Seattle and Montreal, correct?

Speaker 2 (24:19)
You

Speaker 1 (24:37)
These are the Of course, in terms of sales, of course, and Toulouse will win. But in terms of concentration, because we have all the company which can make an aircraft. With all my respect for Seattle, I have only Boeing.

Speaker 2 (24:40)
That's right.

That's what I was going to say, they only have Boeing. Boeing has also spread out to St. Louis and Charleston. So yeah, but you guys can build and implement and Toulouse is an assembly.

Speaker 1 (25:05)
when you go to

It's Airbus. It's only Airbus, you know.

Speaker 2 (25:13)
And

it's an assembly place, right? It's an assembly. They all fly in there and they get a...

Speaker 1 (25:16)
But

Montreal, we have everything. That's why people, this is an advantage. You know why? Also because lots of engineers keep on moving from one to another, you know. It's very easy. are mobile. They are aerospace engineers. You have people who work at Pratt & Whitney for 10 years, like my daughter, let's say. After that, she went to Bombardier for 10 years. So people just rotate between companies. And that's great.

Speaker 2 (25:37)
So here's a question I think that, and this is a question by the way that I hear very often is speaking of Bombardier, speaking of Pratt and Whitney, these are traditional conventional companies. A lot of people ask, why aren't they doing electric air mobility? Why aren't they designing electric airplanes and everything? And before you answer that, I have to say that give them a break. That's not their business model, right? They make...

turbo fans, turbo shaft, turbo turbines, piston engines, and of course, beautiful business jets. My goodness, if I could have a 7500, I would love it. So, but it is a question that comes up once in a while, and we know that they are looking into it same way as Siemens, Alstom, Rolls-Royce up until recently. So why are these traditional companies not coming out with more advanced air mobility types of things?

By the way, Bombardier does have a blended wing body, very enticing system. So I'd like to hear your thoughts on that.

Speaker 1 (26:36)
I mean, of course I cannot like I don't know or I cannot also display all the details of this company All I can tell you Pratt & Whitney Canada They have more electric engine. They are working now on HEPs, which is hybrid electric propulsion system But don't forget Pratt & Whitney produce engine, but they need the aircraft So you have to have you have to have whisk coming to Pratt or Jaunt or Joby etc. And these are different as you know in terms because our electric motor by the way, so you need you need

You need a company with electric motor, know, like Siemens example, like ABB, But yeah, I know they are exploring that, but again, it's a business model because you know, all the eVTOL company around the world, if you start from Ehang to SkyDrive to I know here Volcopter and Lilium are now belly up, you know what mean? They are not in business, as you know, Airbus also abandoned that. So we are left with few.

Speaker 2 (27:12)
all these guys yes

Speaker 1 (27:32)
I mean like Archer is doing well, Joby is doing well, so it's only now six or seven if you know what I mean. Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (27:39)
And

it's normal, right? Disruptive technology is always the same thing. You've got the flurry of them and then less and less and less. So this is normal.

Speaker 1 (27:46)
And who knows after a few years maybe some of them will join together. Who knows Archer and Joby will join together. Wisk join together, know, okay.

Speaker 2 (27:52)
will have to.

I will bet you that that will never happen, but who knows? never know that. But you're right. right. You're right. You never know. And it will happen.

Speaker 1 (28:03)
How can you imagine that Bombardier and Airbus are partners? ⁓

Speaker 2 (28:05)
No, not Bombardier and Airbus, but I was thinking of Archer and Joby specifically. then again, you're right, Electra. Remember, Electra was two companies, right? Airfoil and Electra. So you're right. It makes perfect sense. Well, I mean, and look at our friends, Jaunt Air Mobility, but you and I know very well Martin and the whole team. And guess what? That was the best thing that ever happened. it makes perfect sense.

Speaker 1 (28:25)
Exactly.

What about GE and Pratt & Whitney? They're working together, know. never work together. It's happening. It's happening.

Speaker 2 (28:35)
Safran and GE on their their leap engines and everything CFM engines.

Speaker 1 (28:39)
Exactly, you know, I mean like Bombardier with Airbus work because the C series, know, mean as you know Boeing and Embraer, know, I sometimes they talking to each other Anyway, but these things are happening because that it is risk management etc here because the technology are getting mature it's happening So that's that's what that's a landscape here. Anyway,

Speaker 2 (28:50)
things have to happen.

So, unfortunately, we only have 10 more minutes and, by that time we usually go into, Hany, what gets you out of bed in the morning? I mean, why are you still doing this? This is insane. You could have gotten a job somewhere, become, you know, the president of a company, retired and everything. You're still driven. You're still motivated. We're not going to say how old you are, but I am impressed because you're traveling all over the world. You're making you're having talks and you're you're on stage, everything. So what is your motivation?

Speaker 1 (29:27)
Okay, that's a very good question. mean, number one here, I don't believe in retirement. Okay, that's number one. I can slow down, I can change my pace. And that's why when I left Pratt & Whitney, I knew here when I was at Pratt & Whitney at the end of my career, I left in 62. I had been with ATS for 15 years, so I'm sure you can guess my age now. I can pretend that. Anyway, so having said that, know.

When I left Pratt & Whitney, Pratt & Whitney kept me always as a senior advisor, technology senior research fellow, and that's why I have that. I attached to that, so I cannot work with any competitors of Pratt & Whitney, you know, almost because I always manage the technology. So I respect that, obviously. In addition, I get something from ATS, which I never expected that they hire me as a full-time professor, and they give me all the facility and all the same, because I told them...

I don't want to, I'm working now for fun. I'm not working for money for things like that. And if I don't contribute, you know, if you know what I mean. And now I stand you do. And sometimes, the CEO of EDM when he spoke to me last year, you know, it was in a dinner, you know, he told me, Hany, we are working on that. Are you guys work on that too? I told him yes. And after that we start to working, you know, it's like Siemens and Pratt and Whitney. I have some professional obligation for the project.

which I'm with them until 2020. it's that. Having said that, you know, I'm now I'm into partial retirement actually until 2020. Okay. it whatever you want. Call it whatever you want. know what mean? Which is still five days a week by the way. It's called it partial retirement, but it's five days a week. Anyway, but I, but I have to admit. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (31:06)
I have to tell you, I want to write your book. I want to write your story because you have more to say than anybody you've ever met. But I really, really please consider because I want to write your book. ⁓

Speaker 1 (31:16)
Thank

you, my friend. I wonder, know, I mean, here I always think about writing because it's a big journey, actually, what they've been doing, industry, academia, I mean, involved in, involved in to et cetera here. But now here, but now I have to admit also, you know, I mean, I mean, if what I am asking, I'm still doing my job at, at, at ATS. The research project, which we're working on, I know we did not touch on that, but I can tell you it's have to do with digital twin.

with mapping the aerospace into airspace in Montreal. It has to do with cybersecurity. It has to do with all kind of 5G and 6G and IT and so on. So we have so many projects, research projects doing that which is more or less industry driven from Wisk, Jaunt Beta, the people who are here, if you know what I mean. So this is our main customer. ⁓ I'm having fun. I'm having fun and I can say no.

Speaker 2 (32:07)
So, you...

Speaker 1 (32:13)
anything I don't want to do if you want. That's beautiful. I'm not running after contract and I keep on getting so many headhunter. It's it. I don't know. Listen, I'm okay. I don't want to have any big position like CEO position. I don't want to have that frankly speaking. I'm happy with what I'm doing. I have a big. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (32:16)
Yes, that's the privilege.

Yeah,

and you've worked hard for that privilege and you should really thoroughly enjoy it I know you are thoroughly enjoying it. So we only have unfortunately five minutes left to go ⁓ but I just want to say thank you for being here and we didn't touch on everything but here's the thing come back whenever you want we can continue talking about this because I know with you we can continue talking for a long time you have so much experience and you're doing so many things and you're in a part of the world where everything is fitting together really well so thank you again for taking the time

Speaker 1 (32:57)
You know one thing, I just want to close by here as I mentioned to you in our telephone conversation, I mean we're have on November 27 2025 our first Air Mobility, Advanced Air Mobility Forum at Mirabel because this is the zone where we're have testing, when we're gonna have a control center, when we're gonna have all kind of activity related to that. We're gonna do that like in every year event, every year event in addition to that. In addition to what other event like ICAO,

like you know I mean this one we're gonna always be supporting all other events you know by the way so that's but this is our event you know this will be our event of the institute SDG AM Institute and in collaboration with the airport of Maria

Speaker 2 (33:38)
Yes, thank you. You stole the words out of my mouth because I was going to ask you anything that we should know. So it's going to be in Montreal end of November the 27th, is that correct? OK, so anybody who wants to know more about it, please reach out to us. ⁓ I'll give Hany's email whoever wants to.

Speaker 1 (33:48)
Yes, correct.

We'll invite you for sure, Nicolas. We need you to be part of that. because we need international speaker. Unfortunately, I know it fall into the Thanksgiving, but it's it's.

Speaker 2 (34:07)
Well, I think we will be missing it this year because we're going to be in Portugal a few days before. So, yeah, there's plenty of things that we need to talk about. So anyway, thank you, Henny, for being with us today. again, listeners, watchers, if you have any questions, please write them on the comments so that we can see what you want to hear about. How do you understand advanced air mobility? And here's the question. Did you know that Quebec was that integrated and had such a diversity and ecosystem of aerospace and aviation companies?

So please like, share, subscribe, and stay tuned for more. And see you next week.

Speaker 1 (34:41)
Excellent. Thank you. Have a nice day.

Speaker 2 (34:43)
Thank you.