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 will become an even bigger airline conglomerate early next year with the takeover of BMI and regional airline Eurowings. The company confirmed yesterday that BMI’s current majority owner Michael Bishop exercised his put option to Lufthansa in October. The same applies to Eurowings’ current owner Albrecht Knauf, who will sell his stake by the end of the year. Eurowings operates a regional airline and is also the parent of low-fare carrier Germanwings.
Austrian Airlines is deferring deep cuts to its network in spite of a rapidly worsening financial situation and the delayed privatization. CEO Alfred Oetsch said yesterday he is still confident the airline will be sold by the end of the year and that network reductions would be counterproductive to the process. The airline will nevertheless pull one additional Boeing 767 from long-haul services and stop its flights to Mumbai, India, in March 2009.
Austria’s state holding OEIAG yesterday postponed a decision to sell Austrian Airlines to the carrier’s alliance partner, Lufthansa. The new privatization mandate to be approved by the government today expires by the end of the year and is likely to include additional clauses regarding Austrian’s debt of EUR900 million (US$1.13 billion).
