From a Garage in Aachen to a Top Position in Aviation

Dr. Sabine Klauke is Chief Technology Officer at Airbus, Europe's largest aerospace company, where she is shaping the next revolution in the history of flight. Now she is set to receive the Aachen Engineering Award.

The story of Dr. Sabine Klauke begins in a down-to-earth fashion – in a garage in Aachen. She was seven, maybe eight years old and spent the whole afternoon fixing her bike. Curiosity and ambition drove her to get the bike running again. She succeeded in this, and to this day, she has kept her curiosity, tenacity and ambition – for example, when a household appliance breaks down, the first thing she does is take it apart. She has to laugh, recounting these anecdotes. But the passion and enthusiasm for technology become apparent in these stories. Dr. Sabine Klauke has made a successful professional career out of passion, enthusiasm and, of course, her expertise: Born in Aachen, she is now Chief Technology Officer at Airbus and Executive Vice President Engineering of the Commercial Aircraft division. As Head of Technology at aircraft manufacturer Airbus, she manages around 13,000 employees worldwide and is pursuing the great mission of finding a solution to make flying climate-neutral.

In recognition of her professional career and her achievements as Chief Technology Officer at Airbus, Dr. Sabine Klauke will be awarded the Aachen Engineering Prize at a ceremony to be held by RWTH and the City of Aachen in the Coronation Hall of Aachen City Hall on Saturday, September 7, 2024. This is the tenth time that this award will be presented with the kind support of the Association of German Engineers (VDI). “People want to fly, but at the same time, we are seeing a shift in thinking, as we are more aware of the negative environmental impact of aviation. Dr. Sabine Klauke is taking on the major challenge of making aviation more sustainable. She advocates for new technologies and how they can be implemented through and with the people,” says Professor Ulrich Rüdiger, Rector of RWTH Aachen University.

More Chance Than Love

The fact that Dr. Sabine Klauke became one of the world's most important developers in modern aviation and space travel also came about by chance. While studying production engineering in Dresden, she discovered an advertisement for an Airbus scholarship. However, it was more the special nature of the airplane as a product than a love of flying that led her to follow this path. “I eagerly embraced this task,” she recalls.

But first, let's take a look back: After graduating, Dr. Sabine Klauke, born in 1973, worked for DELMIA, a medium-sized company and a brand of Dassault Systèmes. Between 1998 and 2002, in this role, she implemented the digital transformation of production processes in the automotive and aviation industries. Specifically, she acted as an intermediary between the customers and the software developers.

Success in a collaboration is based, above all, on mutual understanding – for example between people with different perspectives, corporate functions, and cultures – an insight she made a key element of her credo. In 2002, she transferred to Airbus.

She worked in international teams and played a key role in flagship projects such as the A380 and later the A350. Her tasks included production, project management, customer support, change management, and engineering. She worked in the civil aviation division until 2018; subsequently she was appointed CTO of the defense and aerospace division. In 2021, she became a member of the Executive Committee of the Airbus Group with more than 137,000 employees worldwide. In this role, she has not only been responsible for technical development, but also has a focus on leading the aerospace industry into a sustainable and, above all, decarbonized future.

Revolution and Evolution

But before false expectations are raised: She does not harbor any wild fantasies about the future. In order to reduce fuel consumption and emissions, several technologies are already working together, whose impact can already be felt today. In addition, there are revolutionary concepts such as hydrogen propulsion for commercial aircraft.

Fleet modernization is already having an impact on reducing emissions. Every aircraft currently delivered by Airbus consumes around 20 percent less fuel than those of the previous generation. However, only around 25 percent of the active fleet today are the latest generation of aircraft, such as the Airbus A320neo or the A350.

Sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) also play a key role in making aviation more environmentally-friendly. These can be obtained from biomass or from energy and hydrogen using so-called “power-to-liquid” processes. Today, all Airbus aircraft are capable of flying on a maximum 50 percent blend of SAF and conventional fuel; the aim is to make all Airbus aircraft capable of flying with up to 100 percent SAF. “SAF no longer means laboratory scale, test tubes, and researchers in white coats, but tanker trucks and several tons in the belly of the Beluga transport aircraft,” says Sabine Klauke, describing how Airbus is already using SAF in its everyday operations. The company supports the upscaling of production worldwide, as sustainable fuels are currently only available to a limited extent.

Another key element of decarbonization is the further optimization of air traffic processes. Flying a circle at the airport when waiting for a landing slot with a medium-sized commercial aircraft consumes around 100 kilograms of kerosene, so it is worth reducing consumption in this sector too through better networking and planning," said the Airbus CTO. This is a joint task for aircraft manufacturers, air traffic control, and airlines.

Hydrogen is more revolutionary as an energy source in civil aviation. “We have been using hydrogen in space travel for decades. But we're not going to the moon, we’re going to Mallorca, so we have to rethink things considerably,” said Klauke. Airbus has set itself the goal of bringing a hydrogen-powered passenger aircraft into scheduled service by 2035. Commercial aircraft are generally in operation 12 to 18 hours a day, with a departure reliability of 99.7 percent and more. Accordingly, the airlines' requirements are very high. They expect aircraft powered by hydrogen to be just as suitable for everyday use as current aircraft. Together with partners worldwide, the company is also working on building a hydrogen infrastructure.

On one point there is no discussion: “Aircraft must be safe, emphasizes Klauke. But she also highlights the social significance of aviation: “Flying must remain accessible to everyone, it must not become a luxury good - everyone in the industry agrees on that. We have to look beyond our home countries. Aviation serves to connect people and goods worldwide.”

Thus, Sabine Klauke contributes to both revolutionary and evolutionary developments. Her word carries weight. In 2023, she was honored by Manager Magazin, a German monthly business magazine, as “Prima inter Pares” and thus as the most influential woman in German business. “I think I have the most interesting job you can have in the industry at the moment. It's about preparing for the next decades,” she told the German television news program Tagesschau.

A Participative Leader

Working on the Airbus A380 was a highlight of her first years at Airbus . Among other responsibilities, Klauke was in charge of the installment of cables and systems. On April 27, 2005, the A380 took off for the first time. With a maximum capacity of up to 853 passengers and a wingspan of almost 80 meters, it is the largest series-produced civilian airliner in the history of aviation. “The enthusiasm among all of us who were involved was electrifying,” she says, looking back on that day in April 2005.

19 years later, of course, she no longer spends time installing cables and systems. However, it is still important to her to maintain close ties with the designers, the employees in production, and the company’s customers. No matter how big the task as CTO is in the end. And that is very much appreciated “We can only turn our vision for change into reality through people. We must walk the path of progress together with the people,” she says.

Now she is also being honored in her home city for skillfully involving staff and stakeholders in her endeavor of implementing technological innovations such as digitalization and Industry 4.0. Even though she had to move several times, for example to Braunschweig at the time of her A-levels and then to France for a year of voluntary service, she still feels very much at home in Aachen - she has remained an “Öcher child” with a cosmopolitan European outlook. That's why she originally intended to embark on her studies at RWTH after her time in France.

But these were eventful and turbulent times in Germany, the Wall fell and suddenly the world opened up to the East. Klauke took a look at Dresden and the mood of excitement there led her to enroll at Dresden University of Technology. Now she will come back to Aachen, but for a different reason – to accept the Aachen Engineering Award. “Emotionally, I've come full circle,” she says. Many memories come back to her, including visits to the dining hall with her father, who worked at RWTH, and the jazz concerts she loved, being a saxophonist herself. But the memory of her days in the garage repairing her bike remains the most emblematic of her further journey.

Author: Thorsten Karbach