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 and Air Berlin disagree sharply on how to deal with fast-growing Persian Gulf carriers. Lufthansa CEO Christoph Franz Thursday demanded that German traffic rights held by Etihad, Emirates and Qatar Airways be cut back because their growth is not in Germany’s interest. Franz is worried about what he describes as the transfer of European hubs to places “close to the Iranian border.” German airlines operate 29 weekly frequencies to Gulf countries, while Gulf airlines have 129 flights per week.
Ten years ago, airlines just had to be in. If they were not part of one of the three global alliances, they were second class, or their home market was too small and uninteresting to be considered. Alliances gave them the access to markets they needed and, as importantly, to their future merger partners.
Consolidation has led to the formation of the Big Three airline groups in Europe: Air France-KLM, Lufthansa and the International Airlines Group (IAG). But all three are finding that some takeovers simply do not work, and antitrust authorities and economic realities might block further steps.
