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.
International passenger traffic increased 8.2% last year, according to International Air Transport Association (IATA) statistics. The rebound in demand was even stronger in the cargo business, where airlines transported 20.6% more freight than in 2009. That surpassed capacity increases of 4.4% for passengers and 8.9% for cargo. The passenger load factor reached 78.4%, up 2.7 percentage points. In cargo, the load factor improved by 5.2 points to 53.8%.
Operations at Cairo’s international airport have become increasingly chaotic as thousands of travelers try to escape the increasing violence in Egypt. According to local reports, up to 3,500 passengers were forced to spend the night at the airport on Tuesday, mainly because airlines canceled many of their scheduled flights. Several passengers reported they were forced to pay up to $2,000 in bribes to security staff or police in order to be allowed to board. One source counted a total of 19 checkpoints on the way from downtown Cairo to the airport.
Singapore Airlines has grounded one of its Airbus A380s following the discovery of burned wires in one of the cargo holds. The aircraft, registered as 9V-SKD, operated Flight SQ861 from Hong Kong to Singapore on Jan. 31 and was on approach to Singapore when crew detected the smell of smoke in a lavatory. After landing in Singapore, the ground crews found “signs of burns to electrical wiring in the forward cargo hold below the lavatory,” Singapore Airlines said in a statement.
