Katrin Mayrhofer Is Building a Cleaner, Fairer Future for Aviation—From the Inside Out

As COO and co-founder of ELSA Industry, Katrin Mayrhofer is proving that sustainable flight and inclusive leadership must rise together.

For Katrin Mayrhofer, the future of aviation is not only about lighter materials or cleaner fuels—it’s about access. Who gets to design it. Who benefits from it. And who gets left out if inclusion is treated as an afterthought.

As COO and co-founder of ELSA Industry S.R.L., a Bucharest-based aerospace company founded in 2020, Mayrhofer leads the design and manufacturing of advanced lightweight composite components aimed at enabling sustainable, zero-emission aviation. The company’s work spans cutting-edge projects, including prototype development for next-generation UAVs and composite manufacturing support for future mobility systems such as Hyperloop.

But ELSA Industry’s technical ambition is only one side of the story.

With nearly three decades of experience across European aerospace programs—including CityAirbus, Clean Sky, and RACER—Mayrhofer has become one of the sector’s most vocal advocates for diversity, equity, and inclusion. Her central question is disarmingly simple: who gets to participate in tomorrow’s skies?

That question underpins her book, Inclusive Sky, and her leadership beyond the factory floor. Mayrhofer is a co-founder of the European Rotorcraft Women Network, a board member of the One Billion Farmers Organization, and a Patron and Jury Member of the European Rotors Student Challenge. In 2025, she was a finalist nominee at the Climate Change Award Summit, recognizing her intersectional approach to sustainability and leadership.

At ELSA Industry, this philosophy translates into execution. The company has delivered full design and prototype manufacturing for LeVanta Tech’s HALIA float-and-fly UAV and formed strategic partnerships in maintenance training and vertiport design—key building blocks for the future of advanced air mobility.

“Inclusive design isn’t a compliance exercise—it’s an innovation strategy. When aviation opens its doors wider, the industry itself becomes stronger.”

In an era racing toward autonomous, hydrogen-powered, and urban air mobility solutions, Mayrhofer’s leadership reframes the narrative. Clean aviation, she argues, cannot succeed without inclusive thinking baked in from the start.

For Women Story, her journey reflects a powerful truth: women leaders are not just entering complex industries—they are redefining the rules that shape their future.

Company Name: ELSA Industry S.R.L.

Industry: Aerospace Engineering · Advanced Air Mobility · Sustainable Aviation

Headquarters: Bucharest, Romania

Website: www.elsaindustry.eu | www.katrinmayrhofer.com

LinkedIn Profile URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrin-mayrhofer-536444a2/