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.
The Latvian government is willing to participate in a capital increase for Air Baltic, or buy the airline back, if management—in particular the current CEO Bertold Flick—resigns. A total of 60 million lati ($122 million) is set to be injected in the airline.
For Air Berlin, the clock has started ticking. Its equity has been reduced to €308 million ($443 million) from €505 million at the end of 2010, and its very survival is at stake.
Austrian Airlines will not reach its target to achieve an operating profit this year, Chairman Stefan Lauer said on Monday. Lauer is also a member of Lufthansa Group’s executive board and oversees the company’s airline affiliates. Austrian has been undergoing a tough restructuring program, but high fuel prices and a collapse in demand in some of its key markets, such as the Middle East, are making the turnaround even more difficult. Austrian lost €64 million ($92 million) on €949 million in sales in the first half of 2011.
