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.
German regional carrier Eurowings intends to phase out all of its 17 Bombardier CRJ200s plus two CRJ700s, starting at the end of March. The company expects to cut several hundreds of the 1,200 jobs and plans to base future operations on a fleet of CRJ900s. A merger with Lufthansa CityLine, the other regional carrier in the Lufthansa Group, is also on the agenda, but not yet decided.
A majority of Aer Lingus pilots accepted in principle a cost-cutting plan proposed by the airline in an effort to return to profitability. Aer Lingus wants pilots to contribute €30 million of the targeted €97 million in savings. Nearly 65% of pilots voted in favor of the proposal. The Irish Air Line Pilots Association says it is ready to talk with the airline about details and implementation. The airline’s shares rose by more than 4% on Friday when the ballot results became known.
Air Berlin is “open for all kinds of cooperations and partnerships” and is already in “good talks,” according to Chief Commercial Officer Christoph Debus. He also told reporters that the airline plans to further expand its network and hopes for higher operating and net profits in 2010 than in the previous two years. The airline is looking at an increased presence in Spain, but will also add routes in Kosovo and Northern Iraq, where it plans to serve Erbil.
