He started his journalism career in 1992 as a freelance writer for Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Germany’s largest daily national newspaper and soon specialised in air transport. Jens joined Aviation Week and Aviation Daily in 2000 as one of the European correspondents. Later his role was expanded to cover international air transport. In 2013 he was named Managing Editor Commercial.
Jens frequently appears on radio and TV to comment on industry matters. In 2003, he received the Hugo Junkers Award of the German aviation press for his coverage of Fairchild Dornier’s bankruptcy. He was named the country’s top travel and air transport writer by the Travel Industry Club three times. Jens graduated from the Munich School of Journalism.
While Western European carriers such as Lufthansa and Air France-KLM have been complaining about the alleged subsidies enjoyed by their rivals in the Middle East, their competitors in Eastern Europe receive massive government financial support. Most of these ex-flag carriers are state-owned anyway and would not be flying anywhere if private shareholders had to carry the huge losses incurred in the past 20 years.
Major airlines across the Continent are looking to reposition their business now that the sky over Europe's network carriers has darkened, with little prospect in sight for economic recovery. Europe's three big airline groups, Air France-KLM, International Airlines Group (IAG) and Lufthansa, are developing different ways to deal with an expected market slowdown. Strategies reach from asset disposals and acquisitions to cost-cutting programs and a focus on new consumer groups.
Jens Flottau (Bogota, Colombia, and Quito, Ecuador)
Colombia and Ecuador are expanding their airport infrastructures to keep pace with air transport growth. But even with new construction projects under way, capacity constraints are likely to remain.
