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.
Europe’s largest low-fare airline, Ryanair, raised the guidance for full-year profits after having reached significantly better results in the first six months of the year. Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary said he expects the carrier to reach a €380-400 million ($529 million) profit in 2009-2010. The company’s fiscal year ends in March.
Max Kingsley-Jones (Seville, Spain), Jens Flottau (Frankfurt)
Airbus Military remains confident that the A400M Grizzly’s civil certification program will be completed by the end of next year as engineers recover from several problems that caused testing to slip slightly. There is also progress on the contractual front, with German government sources indicating that the country will only take 53 of the 60 military transports originally on order. In addition, French avionics specialist Thales will have to cover possible additional expenses for flight management system (FMS) changes, the sources say.
Jens Flottau (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia), Darren Shannon (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia)
Ethiopian Airlines has ambitious plans to grow sixfold in the next 15 years and create new subsidiaries in other parts of Africa, together with Star Alliance members South African Airways and Egyptair.