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.
Though some signs of financial recovery are evident, European airlines remain concerned about weak economic activity in key markets, prompting another round of network adjustments.
Robert Wall (Seville, Spain), Jens Flottau (Seville, Spain)
Record deliveries in 2009 are not enough to paper over the significant challenges EADS confronts as the strong euro, A400M military transport and A380 continue to weigh on the aerospace giant’s outlook. If anything, the headwind is stronger even than it was last year. EADS has been using currency hedges to dampen the effect of the falling dollar. But the average exchange rate it has been able to secure for 2010 is 10 cents below 2009’s level. That automatically spells a €1-billion ($1.4-billion) shortfall in revenue.
Jens Flottau (Seville, Spain), Robert Wall (Seville, Spain)
Airbus is confident it has now found a way to manage the long-planned production ramp-up of its flagship A380 program. The A380’s production schedule is lagging considerably behind original plans. According to the initial schedule, Airbus should be producing 45 A380s this year, but the latest plans call for only around 20 aircraft. Last year, more than 30 aircraft were initially planned, but at the beginning of the year Airbus predicted it would be able to handle just 18. In fact, it delivered 10.
