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 and Boeing are faced with satisfying a complex set of new requirements when it comes to winning orders from state-owned South African Airways (SAA), complying with offset conditions that are more typical for the defense industry than for commercial aviation. Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba has told SAA management to abandon its current plans to renew the airline’s long-haul fleet and to issue a new request for proposals (RFP) that includes assurances made by industry to place work in South Africa.