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 Cargo is taking over sales and marketing for Austrian Cargo, the logistics arm of Lufthansa’s subsidiary Austrian. The two parties also plan to keep Vienna as the third main airport for cargo operations, along with Frankfurt and Munich. The decision leads Austrian Cargo to reduce its own work force from 200 to 150. Austrian was taken over by Lufthansa last year and aims to return to profitability in 2011. Similar integration projects are under way in other areas, such as maintenance.
MTU Aero Engines is no longer looking for a strategic investor, given that its 10 biggest investors now hold a combined stake of about 40%, providing enough protection against a possible hostile takeover attempt. “The single investor, who holds 20% and does not interfere with company strategy, does not exist,” said CFO Reiner Winkler. MTU’s CEO Egon Behle signaled late last year that he would prefer to have a major shareholder on board to be better protected.
Following a full-day pilot strike on Monday, Lufthansa is slowly returning its operations to normal. The airline canceled 400 of its 1,800 flights on Wednesday after it was forced to slash Monday’s schedule to about 40%. The airline expects to be back to its usual schedule on Friday. Also affected were services of its low-fare affiliate Germanwings, which flies roughly two-thirds of its normal program and also wants to return to a full schedule by the end of the week.
