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.
SAS Group's traffic continued its downward trend in 2003 following drop-offs in 2001 and 2002. The airline group's traffic was 1.6% lower than in the previous year, but SAS increased capacity 1.5%. The load factor was two percentage points lower at 63.5%. Actual passenger numbers were down even more significantly -- 6.7% -- than overall traffic, as demand on intra-Scandinavian routes fell 13.7%. In December, overall traffic was down 0.3% on 0.1% less capacity. For the January-November period, yields declined 12%.
European Union Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio called for more transparency in the way member countries handle airline safety, referring to the crash of a Flash Airlines Boeing 737-300 in Egypt earlier this month. "The most rigorous member state's attitude should become the attitude and action of the whole EU," she said.
Austrian Airlines has found the installation of ice impact trays at fault or questionable on board almost its entire fleet of Fokker 70s. An Austrian Fokker 70 operating as Flight OS 111 had to land on an ice field close to Munich Airport Monday a week ago after both engines lost almost their entire thrust (DAILY, Jan. 9). None of the 32 people on board was seriously injured. In initial checks, investigators found ice impact trays inside the Rolls-Royce Tay engines had been ripped off.
