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.
A Budapest court has placed Malev Hungarian Airlines under bankruptcy protection to keep the airline out of outright bankruptcy proceedings. A trustee has been appointed to control all expenditures planned by the airline, and management has been told to present a “liquidity plan” by today.
Given the economic woes in their home markets, European airlines posted surprisingly strong traffic gains of 9.8% in December and 9.5% for the full year 2011, according to the latest figures released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). IATA says the figures are “somewhat surprising in light of the European sovereign debt crisis,” but airlines have benefited from strong business travel demand on long-haul routes and exports from Northern Europe.
German air traffic control provider DFS opted to replace the entire executive board by the end of this year. The surprise decision was made by the supervisory board. While Managing Director Dieter Kaden and Director-Operations Ralph Riedle planned to retire by year-end, Director-Finance and Human Resources Jens Bergmann was expected to stay. Contrary to earlier plans, the board will continue to have three members. The human resources function will not be merged with the operations positions, as initially expected.
