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.
Finnair traffic rose 5.5% in September, mainly because of a sharp 50% increase in Asian traffic, the carrier said. Despite the positive development, passenger load factor dropped 1.4 percentage points as Finnair boosted capacity 7.6%. Separately, Finnair's main Northern European rival, SAS, reported a 2% traffic decrease for the month. SAS Group's traffic was up 1.6%. Besides SAS, the group comprises Braathens, Spanair and Wideroe Flyveselskap. -JF
Michael A. Taverna (Paris), Jens Flottau (Germany), Douglas Barrie (London)
As defense and space spending comes under increasing pressure in Germany, officials from military and space research organizations are having to wrestle with the implications of further cuts. The German air force will find out its share of additional cuts by the end of 2004 as the defense ministry struggles to balance its equipment program with expenditures.
The Association of European Airlines (AEA) has renewed its support for a future open aviation area between the U.S. and Europe after an initial round of talks was held this month. "We believe that a liberalized market will create a win-win scenario for the European and American airlines, but more importantly, for the air travelers on both sides of the Atlantic," AEA Secretary General Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus said. -JF
