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 is finally starting the process of transferring more non-hub flights to its lower-cost subsidiary Germanwings. All European services from Stuttgart, Cologne/Bonn and Hannover are being taken over by the carrier, Lufthansa said Wednesday.
Star Alliance has appointed former United Airlines Senior VP-Alliances Mark Schwab as its new CEO. Schwab will replace Jaan Albrecht, who is moving on to become CEO of Austrian Airlines on Jan. 1, 2012. Schwab was one of three candidates on the shortlist for the position, according to industry sources. One of the other two is believed to have been Alex de Gunten, the secretary general of the Latin American and Carribean Airline Association (ALTA). Schwab, who recently retired from United, also was a member of the Star Alliance management board.
Lufthansa could make a decision on the sale of BMI British Midland “in the coming weeks,” possibly before the end of this year, CEO Christoph Franz told reporters on the sidelines of the Star Alliance Chief Executive Board (CEB) meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He made the comments after it emerged earlier this week that Virgin Atlantic also had made a bid for the airline. International Airlines Group (IAG) and Lufthansa said in early November that they had reached an agreement in principle over the sale of BMI to IAG.
