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.
Germany is fast becoming one of Europe's focal points for low-fare airline growth, after three more carriers unveiled plans to enter the market in the next few weeks. The no-frills boom in one of Europe's biggest air travel markets was initiated by Ryanair which set up a large base at Hahn airport--serving nine European destinations--and the relaunch of British Airways subsidiary Deutsche BA as low-fare airline DBA.
A fatal midair collision over southern Germany on July 1 was the result of a complex interaction of human factors and technical shortcomings, according to the investigating German agency the Bundesstelle fuer Flugunfalluntersuchung (BFU). The collision involving a DHL International Airways Boeing 757-200 and a Bashkirian Airlines Tupolev Tu-154 killed 71 people.
Eurowings, an aggressive regional carrier, is preparing to launch a new low-cost, no-frills airline dubbed Germanwings. A target date of Oct. 27 has been set for Germanwings to begin operating five Airbus A319 twinjets from Cologne/Bonn airport, its parent company's home base. The new venture is expected to further exacerbate competition on Germany's domestic route system while Deutsche BA is being merged into EasyJet. Eurowings' initiative is backed by Lufthansa German Airlines, which owns a 24.9% stake in the regional carrier.
