MTU Aero Engines AG has named Susanne Lenz as Head of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, combining the corporate communications and public affairs functions under a single executive, per industry trade publication SP's Aviation.

The appointment lands at a politically active moment for European aerospace, where engine programs, sustainability mandates, and defense procurement are simultaneously on the EU policy agenda. Aero engine suppliers sit at the intersection of all three.

What does the role cover?

The job title bundles two functions that listed European industrials often keep separate. Corporate communications typically owns media relations, internal communications, executive visibility, and the company's external narrative. Public affairs owns the legislative file: the interface with policymakers, regulators, and trade associations in Brussels, Berlin, and other capitals where engine programs are bought, certified, or subsidized.

Folding the two under one executive puts Lenz over both remits at MTU Aero Engines. The day-to-day work cuts across earnings cycles, defense procurement files, certification disputes, and the politically charged sustainability debate around aviation. For a comms practitioner moving into a combined seat, the calendar is the brief: a parliamentary inquiry in the morning, an analyst call in the afternoon, and a media interview on either story by close of business.

The structure also gives the CEO a single spokesperson on issues that move from press line to parliamentary question. It collapses two previously siloed teams into one reporting line and removes the inter-departmental handoffs that often complicate crisis response. It can also sharpen political risk, since the same person now owns the explanation when a regulatory decision lands badly in the press.

Why does the timing matter?

For a European engine manufacturer, the political exposure is double-edged. National governments control export licenses for defense-adjacent technology and the relevant subsidy frameworks. Brussels sets emissions rules and competition policy for the wider aviation market. The comms function increasingly has to be fluent in both rooms, on the same day.

A comms lead who also owns the public affairs file is positioned to manage those overlapping audiences without lag, and to spot when a regulatory development is about to become a media story. The reverse is also true: a media story can be defused in a parliamentary answer before it becomes a regulatory one.

What the notice doesn't say

The SP's Aviation report does not state when Lenz starts in the role, who she reports to, or who she succeeds. It does not name her previous employer or specify whether there is a transition period. Comms Memo has contacted MTU Aero Engines AG for those details and will update this story when the company responds.

The appointment was first reported by SP's Aviation, a trade title covering global aerospace and defence.