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.
Etihad Airways plans to buy a 49% stake in Serbian national carrier Jat Airways and rebrand the operator Air Serbia under a five-year management contract that proposes sweeping changes to the company’s structure and network. Air Serbia will be Etihad’s sixth affiliated equity partner, including Air Berlin (in which Etihad has a 29% stake), Air Seychelles (40%), Virgin Australia (10.5%), Aer Lingus (2.99%) and Jet Airways (24%).
Bombardier’s CEO Pierre Beaudoin says “a lot of small stuff” has led to the most recent delay in the first flight of the CSeries prototype FTV1. “Wires have been plugged in upside down. It is nothing significant, but we need to learn. Sometimes what we thought would take half a day takes two days,” he said Aug. 1 during the company’s second quarter earnings call.
A Boeing 787 grounded by Qatar Airways for more than a week has resumed scheduled services. According to industry sources, the aircraft—registered A7-BCB—on July 21 was surrounded by fire trucks just prior to its planned departure, following what is believed to have been a smoke incident towards the rear of the fuselage. Qatar Airways did not comment on the details, other than confirming a “minor issue.”
