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.
SkyTeam has almost no hope of persuading the emerging Latam Airlines Group to join the alliance, says the group’s top executive. “Latam is out of reach for us realistically,” SkyTeam CEO Michael Wisbrun tells Aviation Week. “You don’t have to be an industry guru to tell that they will decide between Star Alliance and Oneworld.” Therefore there are no talks going on between SkyTeam and Latam, Wisbrun adds.
Austrian Airlines, which failed to achieve its goal of breaking even in 2011, is kicking off another restructuring program with the intent of returning to profitability in 2012, says the carrier’s new CEO, Jaan Albrecht. Under the new plan, Austrian will phase out its fleet of 11 Boeing 737s—a mix of two -600s, two -700s and seven -800s, according to the Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN)—as soon as possible, and replace them with seven Airbus A319s and A320s, which will join the 19 Airbus single-aisle aircraft already operated by the carrier.
Hungarian national airline Malev appears to be on the brink of collapse yet again after the country’s government said it has accepted a European Commission (EC) ruling that the carrier has to repay illegal state aid.
