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.
South African Airways (SAA) says it has reinstated an order for 20 Airbus A320s that has been the subject of a dispute for several years with Airbus. The airline booked a one-off benefit of 407 million rand (US$54.92 million) to reverse an impairment of pre-delivery payments in 2004. The airline at the time wanted to cancel the Airbus narrowbody order, but Airbus insisted that it never received a formal cancellation. The new agreement is now based on “more favorable terms,” SAA said.
Jens Flottau (Cologne and Frankfurt, Germany), Robert Wall (Paris)
The European Aviation Safety Agency this week will hold its first meeting with stakeholders on the contentious issue of crew flight time limitations, as the agency sets out to add regulation of flight operations to its roles in setting aviation rules for the European Union.
Japan Airlines’ search for a strategic investor could lead to a shake-up of the global airline alliance system. The carrier says it wants to choose a foreign investor by the end of October. The investor would pay hundreds of millions of dollars for a stake of around 10% in the airline, which has a market capitalization of about $4.8 billion. Japan Airlines’ (JAL) value to an alliance can hardly be overstated. It is the largest carrier in Asia and the biggest in the world’s second-largest economy.
