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.
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has issued a proposed airworthiness directive (PAD) regarding the use of Thales pitot probes on the Airbus A330 and A340 fleet.
Pilots at Air Berlin’s long-haul unit LTU walked off their jobs yesterday after negotiations between the Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) pilot union and the airline failed. Several long-haul flights suffered long delays, but Air Berlin appears to have been able to replace LTU crews with Air Berlin pilots in many cases. The 10-hour strike comes after the first round of negotiations on pay that took place on Monday. VC demanded what amounts to an 11% increase, while Air Berlin offered only 2%. But the real conflict is not about pay.
A planned partial tie-up of leisure carrier TUIfly and Air Berlin may falter as a result of antitrust concerns of Germany’s competition watchdog Bundeskartellamt. The two companies are understood to have filed a revised and much-downscaled application to the authority, hoping that the deal may still be approved.
