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 charter and low-fare airline Air Berlin will drop its daily services from Dortmund to London Stansted and Zurich. "Those two routes aren't yet even breakeven, and now that there's increased competition, we saw no reason to keep flying them," a spokesman for the company said. Easyjet will launch its second German base in Dortmund this year and start flying eight routes from the airport, including flights to Budapest and Prague on Sept. 16. Air Berlin is also reducing its twice-daily service from Munster/Osnabrueck to Vienna to a daily operation. -JF
South African Airways (SAA), Africa's biggest and most important airline, wants to become a member of Star Alliance. SAA said membership in Star would strengthen its role as a global player and support existing initiatives for better customer service. SAA also expects "significant economic advantages" from joining.
Cirrus Airlines will operate the four-times-daily Zurich-Lugano service using Dash 8-300s for Swiss, beginning April 1. Swiss was forced to look for a partner because its own Avro RJs and Saab 2000s are no longer certified for the steep approach to Lugano. The airport is the only one connecting the Tessin region in Southern Switzerland to Swiss's hub in Zurich. -JF
