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.
Airbus asked A330 and A340 operators to inspect wings for tiny cracks near certain fasteners, after Lufthansa discovered such cracks on some of its aircraft. Airbus COO Gustav Humbert, however, said the cracks were not dramatic and there was no reason to ground aircraft. French aviation authority DGAC supported the Airbus proposal to have the aircraft inspected when the next regular maintenance is due.
JAT Airways, Serbia's national airline, was grounded last Thursday evening after all of its pilots went on strike. A spokesman for the union said pilots have not been paid wages by the state-owned airline for two months. Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica was expected to meet with pilot representatives shortly to resolve the issue. JAT could not fly for several years in the 1990s because of the Yugoslav air embargo, and the airline has been struggling since to build up a workable operation on the back of an aging fleet. -JF
Ryanair plans to cut one daily frequency each on the routes from Milan Bergamo to London Stansted, Hahn and Charleroi, after failing to resolve a contractual disagreement with the airport. The airline did not go into the details, but the airline's Deputy CEO Michael Cawley said: "Unfortunately the airport feels that it cannot now honor one term of the agreement and regrettably we have decided to cancel part of our expansion which involves a reduction in frequency on three routes."
