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.
Qatar Airways is close to placing an order for Bombardier’s CSeries, although CEO Akbar Al Baker declined Tuesday to describe his exact plans for the aircraft. Al Baker says, “I will leave that question to be answered in Le Bourget,” referring to the June 2011 Paris Air Show typically used for big order announcements.
Egyptair shut down all operations in Cairo on Monday afternoon to comply with the country-wide curfew imposed by the Egyptian government. Following widespread anti-government protests in the past days, the administration of President Hosni Mubarak has been trying to regain control of the situation, so far unsuccessfully. The curfew was initially set to start at 10 p.m. but was pushed back to become effective at 3 p.m. local time on Monday.
Air Berlin will post a net loss for 2010, the airline says, sending its shares down by more than 4% Friday. That prediction came after it earlier said it would exceed the 2009 operating profit of €29 million ($38.9 million). Air Berlin blamed the cold winter weather in December, an air traffic control strike in Spain and the continued strike threat by its own pilots. But the airline is also suffering from the high cost of changing its business model from a low-cost hybrid to a quality airline that plans to join the Oneworld alliance in 2012.
