Previous positions and career

2020 – 2025
Chair of the Executive Board of Westenergie AG

2015 – 2019
Managing Director and Executive Member of the Management Board of the Association of Local Public Utilities (VKU)

2013 – 2015
Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure

2009 – 2013
Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety

2005 – 2009
Deputy Chair of the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group

1998 – 2015
Member of the German Bundestag

1997 – 1998
Research assistant at the University of Potsdam
 

Education

1995
Research assistant at the Department of Chemistry and Biology of Clarkson University, New York, USA

1992 – 1997
Study of chemistry at the University of Potsdam

Katherina Reiche was born in Luckenwalde on 16 July 1973 and has three children.

Guillaume Faury was appointed Airbus Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in April 2019 and re-appointed in 2025. Guillaume leads the Company’s Executive Committee. He was previously President of Airbus’ commercial aircraft business, a role he had held since February 2018.

Additionally, Guillaume is a member of the board of directors of AXA SA (since April 2021). He served as President of the Groupement des Industries Françaises de l’Aéronautique et du Spatial (GIFAS), the French aerospace industries association, until July 2025 and served as President of the Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD) from June 2023 to June 2025.

Prior to this, Guillaume was Chief Executive Officer of Airbus Helicopters (2013-2018), where his achievements included restructuring its manufacturing system and introducing new technologies.

Before that, he enjoyed a four-year spell in the car industry at Peugeot (2009-2013), the French automotive manufacturer, rising to become the Executive Vice President for Research and Development and a member of the company’s management board. He presided over significant advances in Peugeot’s lower-emissions hybrid-engine technology and the overhaul of the company’s product range, among other accomplishments.

Between 1998 and 2008, he held various leadership positions in engineering, programmes and flight testing in Airbus’ helicopter business, which at the time operated under the name of Eurocopter. He became Executive Vice President for Programmes and a member of the Eurocopter Executive Committee, before being appointed as Executive Director for Research and Development.

Guillaume began his career in 1992 as a flight-test engineer for the Eurocopter Tiger helicopter in the Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA), the French government agency responsible for the development and purchase of defence systems for the French armed forces.

He graduated from the École polytechnique in Paris in 1990 and, subsequently, from the École nationale supérieure de l’aéronautique et de l’espace in Toulouse.

Guillaume’s love of flying and aviation dates back to his childhood. He is a qualified light-aircraft pilot and helicopter flight-test engineer with 1,300 hours of flying experience. He was born in 1968 in Cherbourg, Normandy, and is married with three children.

Biography

Born in Kyllburg on 1 May 1968

1987
School-leaving certificate, St.-Matthias-Gymnasium in Gerolstein

1987 to 1988
Basic military service

1988 to 1995
Studied law at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms University of Bonn, First State Examination in Law

1995 to 1997
Practical legal training, Second State Examination in Law

1998 to 1999
Practised as a lawyer

1999 to 2025
Member of the Bitburg-Prüm District Council

1999 to 2009
Mayor of the municipal association of Arzfeld

2004 to 2011
Chairman of the CDU Parliamentary Group in the Bitburg-Prüm District Council

Since 2009
Member of the German Bundestag

2011 to 2018
Secretary-General of the CDU in the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate

2014 to 2017
Chairman of the Parliamentary Friendship Group of Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg

Since 2017
Chairman of the group of parliamentarians from Rhineland-Palatinate in the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group in the German Bundestag

2018 to 2025
Chief Whip of the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group in the German Bundestag

2018 to 2021
Chairman of the Parliamentary Friendship Group for Relations with the BENELUX countries

2022 to 2025
Chairman of the Parliamentary Friendship Group for Relations with Belgium and Luxembourg

Since 6 May 2025
Federal Minister of Transport

Peter Gerber, born in 1964 in Gießen, is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Condor since February 1, 2024. He is also President of the Federal Association of German Airlines (BDF).
Prior to this, Peter Gerber held management positions in the Lufthansa Group for over 30 years - including serving on the Executive Board of Lufthansa Airlines, as CEO and CFO of Lufthansa Cargo and most recently as CEO and CCO of Brussels Airlines. He also held the position of Chief Representative for European Affairs at the Lufthansa Group and was President of the German Aviation Association (BDL). Gerber studied law and business administration in Gießen and Hagen. In addition, he completed a senior executive programme at Columbia University in New York in 2008.

Magda Kopczyńska is the current Director-General for Mobility and Transport in the European Commission. Magda has held various leadership roles in the Commission, from Clean Transport and Sustainable Urban Mobility to Agriculture and Rural Development. Magda's commitment remains focused on driving positive change in Europe's mobility sector.

Since 1988, Richard has tracked aircraft programs, markets, and companies as an analyst and consultant. He manages consulting projects in the commercial and military aviation field and analyzes broader defense and aerospace market and industry trends. He has advised numerous aerospace companies, including most prime and many second- and third-tier contractors in the US, Europe and Asia. He also advises numerous financial institutions on aerospace market conditions.

Richard is a Managing Director at AeroDynamic Advisory, a boutique aerospace and defense management consultancy headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Prior to joining AeroDynamic in January 2022, he was Vice President of Analysis at Teal Group. He is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. He is also a Special Advisor on Aerospace & Defense at Eurasia Group.

Grazia Vittadini, who was born in Lodi (Italy) on September 23, 1969, was appointed to 
the Executive Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG with effect from July 1, 2024. She 
serves as Chief Technology Officer of the Lufthansa Group, with responsibility for the 
Group’s Technology, IT & Innovation division.
Vittadini comes to the Lufthansa Group from Rolls-Royce plc, London, where she has 
served as Chief Technology Officer and a member of the Executive Team, and most 
latterly as a Special Advisor.
From 2002 to 2021 Grazia Vittadini held various positions in a range of locations at 
Airbus Group, initially in Hamburg as a design engineer and from 2005 to 2009 in 
Bremen, working on the production and service entry of the Airbus A380. In 2009 she 
was appointed Head of Major Tests at the Hamburg site, and from 2013 onwards she 
served as Head of Design, also at Airbus Hamburg.
In 2014 Vittadini moved to Toulouse to assume new duties as Head of Corporate Audit 
and Forensic for the Airbus Group; in 2017 she was appointed Executive Vice President, 
Head of Engineering and a Member of the Executive Committee of Airbus Defense and 
Space; and in 2018 she was appointed Chief Technology Officer and a Member of the 
Airbus Executive Committee.
Prior to her Airbus Group career, Grazia Vittadini served as a stress and design engineer 
at Fairchild Dornier in Oberpfaffenhofen from 2000 to 2002, and as a focal point for the 
Eurofighter Role Equipment Program at AEREA Aircraft Equipment of Milan from 1999 
to 2000. She began her career in 1998, as Head of the Technical Department at Marves 
(Milan).
Grazia Vittadini is a member of the Supervisory Board of Siemens AG, and also holds a 
supervisory mandate at The Exploration Company, Gilching.
An Italian and German dual national, Grazia Vittadini holds a Master’s degree in 
Aerospace Engineering, specializing in Aerodynamics, from the Politecnico di Milano 
(Polytechnic University of Milan). She further holds an Honorary Doctorate in 
Engineering & Technology from Cranfield University (UK).

Michael Schoellhorn is Chief Executive Officer of Airbus Defence and Space. In this capacity, he is responsible for the company’s defence, space and connected intelligence activities. He also serves as a member of Airbus’ Executive Committee, the Managing Director of Airbus Defence and Space GmbH and a member of the Board of Directors of Airbus U.S. Space and Defense, Inc. 

Additionally, Michael is the President of BDLI, the German aerospace industry association, a member of the Presidential Board of BDI, the German industry association, and a member of  VOITH’s shareholder committee.

Prior to his appointment at the helm of Airbus Defence and Space, Michael was Airbus’ Chief Operating Officer. In this position, he led the company’s production, quality, procurement and information management organisations, transforming and building the production system of the future.

Michael joined Airbus in 2019 from BSH Home Appliances, where he was COO and a member of the company’s Management Board. He began his career with Bosch in 1999 and held various senior management positions in the automotive sector in the United States, the Czech Republic and Germany before being appointed EVP for Manufacturing and Quality in 2012.

From 1994 to 1999, with assignments in Germany and the US, Michael worked in academia as a research assistant at the Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg. He holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering and a PhD in Control Engineering. 

Michael joined the German armed forces in 1984, where he served as an officer and a helicopter pilot until 1994. 

Lars Wagner was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Commercial Aircraft business of Airbus in January 2026 and is a member of the Company's Executive Committee.

He joined Airbus from MTU Aero Engines AG in Munich, Germany, where he served as CEO since January 2023. His responsibilities included engineering and technology, human resources, strategy, corporate communications, and legal affairs. Additionally, Lars led MTU’s sustainability efforts as Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) from May 2022. Prior to his appointment as CEO at MTU, he served as Chief Operating Officer from 2018 to 2022 and previously as Executive Vice President in charge of OEM operations.

Lars began his career with an apprenticeship in aircraft manufacturing and worked as an aircraft mechanic at Daimler Benz Aerospace (Airbus) in Bremen in 1997. 

After pursuing higher education, he returned to Airbus in 2003 and held various positions across the company’s home nation sites, including roles in Flight Physics within the Engineering organisation and as Senior Director Strategy Integration. 

In September 2011, he moved to Hamburg, where he served as Vice President Long Range Fuselage and Vice President A350 Fuselage until July 2015.

Lars was born in 1975 in Cuxhaven, Germany. He holds a Dipl.-Ing. in Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics from RWTH Aachen University and an MBA from the Collège des Ingénieurs in Paris. His education also includes studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Imperial College London.