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.
Air Berlin’s executive board members and the airline’s senior management will cut bonuses in half on a voluntary basis this year to contribute to an ongoing cost savings program. The measure will result in a €2 million (US$2.58 million) in savings. Air Berlin said it will stick to its previous guidance of achieving an operating profit in the financial year 2008 ended December 31. Details of its financials will be released on March 30.
Austrian Airlines continues to see massive declines in passenger demand that are significantly worse than what competitors are seeing. The airline’s traffic decreased by 12.2% in January as it cut capacity by 6.5%. The load factor consequently dropped by 4.3 points to 65.4%. Passenger numbers were down 13%. By comparison, Lufthansa reported a drop of almost 7% last week. Austrian said it will increase capacity cuts by a further 5% and stop services to Nuremberg, Ankara and Nishni Novgorod.
Embraer is eyeing an entry-into-service date in 2017 or 2018 for a new family of commercial aircraft that is likely to compete with the current Boeing and Airbus narrowbodies. Embraer President/CEO Frederico Fleury Curado tells Aviation Week & Space Technology that a decision on the action and the technological concept will not be made before 2011. “There are several moving pieces in this puzzle,” Curado says. “But there will be a convergence in 2-3 years.”
