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.
After months of discussion, Airbus appears ready to pull the trigger on establishing another A320 final assembly line (FAL), this time in the U.S. That the company has continued internal discussions about expanding its Mobile, Ala., engineering facility to a production site was highlighted in March by then EADS CFO Hans-Peter Ring, who confirmed continued contact with local officials. Mobile was to be the final assembly site if the U.S. Air Force selected the A330-based tanker in its KC-X program. It did not, and the A330 FAL concept disappeared.
Middle East Airlines (MEA) has officially joined the Skyteam alliance. The Lebanon-based carrier is the alliance’s 17th member and its second in the region after Saudia, that as formerly known as Saudi Arabian Airlines. Skyteam is the last of the three global groups to become established in the Levante: Royal Jordanian is a member of Oneworld, Egyptair is in Star Alliance. Unlike Egyptair and Royal Jordanian, though, MEA does not operate long-haul flights. Its network is limited to the Middle East, Africa and Europe.
The European Commission (EC) has approved the Maltese government’s capital investment in Air Malta, saving the airline and maintaining a large part of the island nation’s air services to Europe. The government last year injected €130 million ($163 million at current exchange rates) into the national carrier as part of a five-year restructuring effort. This prompted a formal investigation by the EC, which initially stated that it had serious doubts that the aid complied with European Union competition law.
