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.
Pilots at three Lufthansa affiliates went on a surprise strike yesterday, forcing the group to cancel 66 flights. The two hour walk-out affected services at Lufthansa’s fully owned regional CityLine, 49% owned Eurowings and its low-fare affiliate Germanwings. CityLine pilots demanded a “double digit” wage hike while Eurowings and Germanwings crews won’t disclose figures. However, they want to be integrated into the collective bargaining agreement hoping for better career chances and the option to switch to mainline aircraft.
Turkish Airlines (THY) is looking for more leased aircraft capacity short-term, and hopes to make major fleet acquisition decisions before the end of the year. The airline is looking at placing a follow-on order for narrowbodies to continue its expansion strategy on short- and medium-haul routes. The airline is also studying how to grow and renew its widebody fleet.
Robert Wall (Toulouse), Jens Flottau (Toulouse), Guy Norris (Toulouse)
A shortage of skilled labor is a growing concern at Airbus, and management worries it could undermine the company’s program execution and efforts to meet strong market demand. “We need to enhance the skills training, knowledge management and succession planning across all our teams,” says Airbus CEO Tom Enders.
