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.
The European Low Fare Airline Association (ELFAA) wants the European Commission to look into the April 2009 SAS group rights issue. ELFAA claims the $872 million rights issue constituted illegal government aid for the airline. “It is hard to imagine the three governments ever expected a return on their investment,” ELFAA says. “Had the rights issue not been government backed, it is extremely unlikely that the necessary funds to keep SAS afloat would have been raised from the open market.
Emirates may soon order new aircraft, President Tim Clark said Nov. 13, and is in talks with both Airbus and Boeing. “The fleet order we have in place is probably not as big as it needs to be,” he said in an interview with The DAILY. Therefore, Emirates is talking to the manufacturers about taking production slots that other airlines may have given up because of the economic downturn. He did not disclose how many additional aircraft the airline is considering, or under what time frame.
Grupo TACA and Copa Airlines, two rivals based in El Salvador and Panama, respectively, are both being encouraged to join the Star Alliance by existing members. Star has been talking to the carriers since earlier this year to fill a hole in coverage in Central America (DAILY, May 12). Executives of current alliance members recently have been trying to convince the two that both of them have a future in the alliance in spite of their long-time rivalry and a limited network overlap. An agreement is expected to be reached before yearend, alliance sources say.
