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.
Chinese Construction Bank is the first Chinese bank to finance an Emirates aircraft, after the two sides signed an agreement for a $119 million financing deal. The deal covers the 12-year lease of an Airbus A340-500, to be delivered in August. The aircraft will be the ninth of an order of 10. Emirates has 78 aircraft and plans to double its fleet by 2012. -JF
Members of the Association of European Airlines (AEA) reached a record 78.1% load factor in June, as the carriers increased capacity by 4.2% while demand was up 6.2%. Load factor gained 1.1 percentage points, which AEA said was "good news for an industry struggling to reconcile the necessity to cut costs with inflated fuel prices." Traffic to Asia was up 12% and intra-European demand increased 6.4%, but the North Atlantic developed much more slowly at 1.9%. -JF
Spanish airline Iberia is considering setting up its own low-fare unit (DAILY, May 18), Mediterranea, to counter the rapidly growing European low-fare industry, Spanish newspapers report. Spain, a popular vacation destination, is one of the main targets of Europe's low-fare airlines. Iberia also faces competition from Spanish rivals Spanair, Air Europa and Air Madrid. The low-fare carrier would be based in Barcelona. Iberia said a decision on the launch would not come until September.
