Honda Aircraft Company President and CEO Honored With Aviation Industry Leader of the Year at the “Living Legends of Aviation Awards”

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Jan. 21, 2015 — Honda Aircraft Company announced today that President and CEO Michimasa Fujino has been honored with the Aviation Industry Leader of the Year Award for the development, production, marketing and sales of the innovative HondaJet.

The award recognizes dedication to the aviation industry and is presented each year by the Kiddie Hawk Air Academy. Fujino was honored on Friday, Jan. 16, 2015 as part of Kiddie Hawk’s 12th annual “Living Legends of Aviation Awards” event in Beverly Hills, California.

“We are pleased to grant Michimasa Fujino this award for his contributions to the advancement of business aviation with his original concept design, the HondaJet,” said Kiddie Hawk volunteer Paul Lips. “With this award, we recognize his efforts and vision to create new technology with the HondaJet Over-The-Wing Engine Mount configuration.”

In accepting the award, Fujino shared the significance of the honor to Honda. “I am grateful to the “Living Legends of Aviation” and Kiddie Hawk Air Academy for this extraordinary award,” said Fujino. “To have Honda recognized as a leader in aviation with the HondaJet is a true honor. Honda Motor Company’s founder, Soichiro Honda, had a strong passion for many forms of human mobility, including aviation. With the HondaJet, I want to keep alive his challenging spirit.”

The “Living Legends of Aviation” is a group of people of extraordinary accomplishment in aviation including entrepreneurs, innovators, industry leaders, record breakers, astronauts, pilots and celebrities. The Legends meet annually to recognize and honor individuals who have made significant contributions in aviation.

Kiddie Hawk Air Academy is a Colorado nonprofit dedicated to both honoring individuals who have made significant contributions in aviation and fostering youth interest in aviation.

About HondaJet
The HondaJet is the world’s most advanced light business jet aircraft, with best-in-class advantages in performance, comfort, quality and efficiency. The HondaJet is the fastest, highest-flying, quietest, and most fuel-efficient jet in its class. The HondaJet incorporates many technological innovations in aviation design, including the unique Over-The-Wing Engine Mount (OTWEM) configuration that dramatically improves performance and fuel efficiency by reducing aerodynamic drag. The OTWEM design also reduces cabin sound, minimizes ground-detected noise, and allows for the roomiest cabin in its class, the largest baggage capacity, and a fully serviceable private aft lavatory. The HondaJet is powered by two highly fuel-efficient GE Honda HF120 turbofan jet engines, and is equipped with the most sophisticated glass flight deck available in any light business jet, a Honda-customized Garmin® G3000 next-generation, all-glass avionics system composed of three 14-inch landscape-format displays and dual touch-screen controllers. The HondaJet is Honda’s first commercial aircraft and lives up to the company’s reputation for superior performance, efficiency, quality and value.

Honda Aircraft Company
Honda Aircraft Company, LLC, is a wholly owned subsidiary of American Honda Motor Co., Inc. Founded in 2006, Honda Aircraft has its heritage in more than 20 years of groundbreaking aeronautical research and development. At Honda Aircraft’s world headquarters in North Carolina, the birthplace of aviation, the company’s associates work in more than 600,000 square feet of state-of-the-art R&D, production, administration and customer service facilities to develop, produce, market and support the HondaJet with HondaJet dealers. The challenging spirit upon which Mr. Soichiro Honda founded Honda Motor Co., Ltd. is alive today as Honda Aircraft fulfills one of Honda’s longstanding dreams to advance human mobility skyward.

SOURCE: HondaJet