Mario Heinen

Biography

 Mario Heinen has been nominated Executive Vice President Production for Airbus Commercial Aircraft and a Member of the Airbus Executive Committee as of 1st January 2015. Previously, Mr Heinen was Head of Production (Airbus Commercial Aircraft) from 2013.  In his role Mario Heinen is heading 11 Airbus Commercial Aircraft production sites and is responsible for the delivery of manufactured, pre-assembled, equipped and tested aircraft components for all Airbus Commercial Aircraft programmes and is currently Deputy Chairman of the Board of Management of Airbus Operations GmbH. In his previous role Mario Heinen was Executive Vice President, Head of the Centre of Excellence (COE) Fuselage and Cabin from 2008. The transnational Centre, with around 15.000 employees, covered all Airbus fuselage/cabin activities at the sites in Hamburg, Toulouse, St. Nazaire, Bremen and Buxtehude, from shell production up to major component assembly, as well as cabin design and furnishing.  Mario Heinen began his professional career in 1985 when he joined Lufthansa’s Engineering Division as a Maintenance Engineer. He became Engineering Maintenance Section Manager in 1986 before being promoted to Engineering Maintenance Manager in 1989, in charge of technical standards and operational reliability for airframe systems and avionics for the whole fleet.  In 1991 he was appointed Maintenance Manager at Lufthansa’s Maintenance Division, and promoted to General Manager Aircraft Maintenance in 1995 at Frankfurt-based Lufthansa Technik AG. In this position he was responsible for the cost-efficient, reliable and safe maintenance of more than 200 aircraft for Lufthansa German Airlines and 30 other customers. In December 1999, Mario Heinen joined Airbus Industries as Vice President Delivery Centre, responsible for all Airbus aircraft deliveries in Toulouse and Hamburg. He was in charge of managing the acceptance and delivery process, whilst ensuring on-time and on-quality deliveries with high operational reliability during the entry-into-service phase.  From 2003 to 2006, he was Senior Vice President Single Aisle Programme, managing all phases of the aircraft programme from development through to final assembly and customer services. In this role, he led the most significant ramp-up in the history of any aircraft programme. In 2006 he was promoted to Head of the A380 programme becoming Executive Vice President in 2007. Mr Heinen was Head of the A380 Programme, a post he held until 2008. In his role, he managed all aspects of the A380 Programme including aircraft development, certification by airworthiness authorities and entry into service with customer airlines. As Head of the A380 Programme he was responsible for the first A380 deliveries to customers.  

Research Interest

 Engineering