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.
Gulf Air is in talks with Airbus about an order for up to eight more A340-600s, industry sources tell The DAILY. The carrier wants to use about half of the aircraft on existing routes and the rest to open new destinations in the U.S. and Canada. Gulf Air recently ordered 15 A330-300s and 20 A320s to grow its fleet to about 60 aircraft in five years. Its biggest and longest-haul aircraft today is the A340-300.
Lufthansa expects to spend EUR400 million more on fuel this year than planned as late as in April. The airline’s fuel bill will total EUR5.7 billion (US$8.8 billion), based on current price levels. Despite the increase, Lufthansa leaves its target of meeting or exceeding last year’s operating results of EUR1.38 billion.
Adrian Schofield (Istanbul), Robert Wall (Istanbul), Jens Flottau (Istanbul)
The airline industry’s latest financial nosedive is injecting new urgency into calls for broader liberalization of the global aviation market. Although prospects for regulatory breakthroughs are bleak, carriers believe that allowing cross-border mergers would spark the massive restructuring the industry needs to achieve long-term stability.
