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.
Experienced participants in international airline conferences will confirm that one of the basic rules that is presented by the second panel (at the very latest) is: In the airline industry, size matters. While that may not be the case for every carrier—and a large footprint does not protect airlines from failure—the statement definitely applies to British airline BMI.
One of the industry's worst-kept secrets was that there was going to be more to come, when Airbus announced a delay to the A350-800 and -1000 at this year's Paris air show. The only questions were: When would a schedule shift for the baseline A350-900 be announced and how extensive would it be?
For most European network carriers, short-haul operations have been little more than a necessary evil—needed to fill long-haul aircraft but a big drain on funds. Lufthansa is only the latest to try to surmount that situation, although there is little doubt it faces an uphill battle.
