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.
Airbus is raising list prices across its commercial aircraft portfolio. Prices are up 2.74% from their 2007 levels to reflect inflation. Additionally, Airbus A320 family aircraft will be US$2 million more expensive, while the price tag for widebodies, including the A380, is upped by US$4 million per unit. Airbus says the increases reflect the weak dollar and higher costs for metal.
Gulf Air, Bahrain’s national airline, will introduce a daily flight from Manama to Hyderabad, India, on July 1. The carrier will use an Airbus A330-200 in a two-class configuration on the route. Gulf Air says the new service is part of its growth and turn-around strategy. Separately, Qatar Airways said it will start daily Airbus A320 flights from Doha to Kozhikode (Calicut) on June 15. Kozhikode is the airline’s third destination in the Indian state of Kerala in addition to Ochin and Trivandrum.
Lufthansa is introducing an all-business-class service from Frankfurt to Pune, India, moving its first service of the kind on Asian routes. The airline will deploy an Airbus A319 in a 48-seat lay-out to the Indian city, which is situated 200 kilometers southeast of Mumbai. Pune is a centre for the IT, chemical and automotive industries, also, several universities are located in the area. The flight will be operated by Swiss business aviation specialist PrivateAir and will be flown six times weekly.
