Christian started his aviation career 36 years ago as Avionics Maintenance Engineer and currently is the Representative of Austria and the Abis Group on the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Next to his role as Council member, he was appointed as chair of the ICAO Group on Innovation as well as the Industry Consultative Forum responsible for the collaboration with the industry on strategy inputs. He also got elected to chair the ICAO Committee on Joint Support of Air Navigation Services (JSC).
Between 2014 and 2022 Christian Schleifer served as the Director General and CEO of EUROCAE, a leading international Standard Developing Organisation (SDO), specialised in high quality and safety critical standards, based in Paris/France. In this role he was responsible for the operational management, development, restructuring and growth of EUROCAE.
From 2009 until 2013 Christian was appointed as Air Navigation Commissioner (ANC) at ICAO. During 2012 and 2013 as President of the Air Navigation Commission, he was responsible for developing Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) in the field of Air Navigation and Safety.
Prior to his posting at ICAO, Christian oversaw Aircraft and Equipment Certification, Airworthiness and Operational Requirements at the Austrian Civil Aviation Authority (Austro Control).
In this role, Christian was a specialised Certification and Flight Test Engineer for Avionics, Electrics and Human-Machine interface. After his return from ICAO, he was involved in the strategic development of the ATM part of Austro Control, contributing to the European and Global Air Navigation modernisation programmes.
Being an avid supporter of the Next Generation of Aviation Professionals (NGAP), Christian initiated the development of a department for Aviation Electronics (Avionic) at Vienna´s Donaustadt-Akademie. He is also an academic lecturer at the Joanneum University of Applied Science in Graz/Austria.
Christian has a background in Electronic Engineering and holds a Commercial Pilot License (CPL), actively flying single and multi-engine aircrafts. Besides his technical and operational aviation background, he holds a Global Executive MBA in Economics from the University of Minnesota and the Vienna University. He complemented his education with several management trainings at MIT, Mc Gill and other Universities.
