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.
Low-cost VietJetAir is acquiring up to 100 Airbus A320s, placing a firm order for 63 aircraft along with 30 purchase rights and leases for a further seven. The deal, the first and only commitment Airbus announced on the opening day of the Singapore airshow, reflects a broader market trend in the region—massive growth of low-cost carriers, partly at the expense of legacy carriers and partly complementing the traditional carriers.
Etihad Airways is setting up a new group structure to better reflect the range of businesses its now running beyond the core airline. According to CEO James Hogan, Etihad Aviation Group is being created later this year using the airline as the biggest of several pillars. Other units will include the loyalty program and the travel agency business. Etihad’s various airline participations will be held by the group, too.
The Airbus A350 flight test program is going much better than expected, according to the company’s Senior Vice President Flight and Integration Tests Fernando Alonso, with the two test aircraft flying around 100 hours per month—nearly twice as many as in previous programs.
