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.
Lufthansa CEO Christoph Franz is leaving the airline when his current contract expires on May 31, 2014. Franz in a statement says he is leaving for “professional reasons” without stating that he is joining Swiss pharmaceutical group Roche as chairman.
Airbus, the Tianjin Free Trade Zone and Chinese manufacturer Avic are in “quite advanced negotiations” to extend an agreement covering Airbus’s final assembly line in Tianjin, says Airbus China Chief Operating Officer Rafael Gonzalez-Ripoll. According to Gonzalez-Ripoll, he is “pretty sure” that a deal can be signed over the next few weeks or couple of months, he told journalists on the sidelines of an Airbus event in Harbin.
Aer Lingus plans to cut short-haul capacity 3% in the fourth quarter, after the airline recorded lower than expected bookings and yields. The airline in a trading update says it will not be able to recover the volumes lost in July and August, when many potential passengers stayed at home because the weather was exceptionally good across large parts of Europe. Because of the weaker-than-expected demand, Aer Lingus cut its operating profit target for the full year from €69 million ($92 million) to €60 million.
