Axel B. Classen holds an MSc in air transport with a specialisation on ATM and airport planning and is senior scientist within DLR with focus on airport management and operations. His professional experience covers a broad range resulting of several positions with function, issue and project responsibility for both operational and strategic management at the German Airports Association (ADV) and at Stuttgart Airport. Within DLR Axel has been working on operational design of airport terminals, strategic airport orientation and development, integration of planning aspects into operational environment, optimization of employment and deployment of available resources, and strategies to reduce airport noise.
Axel was also project manager of several national and international projects i.a. on Total Airport Management. He was coordinator of the EU-FP7 project ASSET and has been delegated permanently to several international committees. In an actual project Axel works together with Copenhagen Airport and 14 other European partners on implementing Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) at European Airports. Axel has an extensive experience in the evaluation of the introduction of sustainable fuels and other innovative technologies at airports which makes the introduction of hydrogen in aviation one of his actual focus points.