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.
German engine manufacturer MTU Aero Engines sees a strong market recovery in air transport over the next few years, and MTU President and CEO Klaus Steffens said that from 2006 onwards he expects the industry to grow consistently by around 5%.
Swiss's traffic dropped 7% in April, in contrast to a general trend in the European air transport sector, but with its 21% capacity cut the carrier saw load factor improve to 77.2% from 66.4% a year earlier. The drop in traffic was even more significant; Swiss figures last year were affected by the SARS pneumonia outbreak and the Iraq war. Meanwhile, the SAS Group recorded a 16%traffic increase for April. Load factor was 64.9%, up 4.4 points. -JF
Michael A. Taverna (Paris), Jens Flottau (Frankfurt)
The wholesale expansion of the European Union and NATO into Eastern Europe this spring will create new opportunities, as well as stiff competition, for Europe's aerospace industry. The 10 new EU members and seven new NATO entrants--which, with the exception of Romania and Bulgaria are also joining the EU--will bring 12 additional nations into the fold of the two organizations.
