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 confirmed it will buy rival Swiss (DAILY, March 11) once it gets approval from the shareholders of both companies. Lufthansa said in a statement that it plans to integrate Swiss into the Lufthansa Group by eventually taking over 100% of the shares. The airline group would be Europe's second-largest behind Air France-KLM. Approval by Lufthansa's supervisory board is expected and the Swiss administrative board is believed to be leaning toward approval of the proposal. Lufthansa's next scheduled board meeting is on March 22.
Lufthansa Technik intends to expand its international presence with a focus on the North American market, now that it has established joint ventures in Europe and a growing operation in Asia.
Lufthansa is close to buying its rival Swiss, company sources said yesterday, and according to information obtained by The DAILY, the deal could be announced within the next few weeks. If implemented, Swiss would allegedly give up its hub in Zurich -- one of the preconditions that sent a previous round of negotiations in 2003 aground (DAILY, July 29, Sept. 24, 2003).
