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.
The Irish government appears to be closer to selling its 25% stake in Aer Lingus just as Ryanair says it will not attempt to buy the shares. Transport Minister Leo Varadkar says the strategic argument for keeping a 25% stake in the airline no longer applies; it has been keeping its stake in Aer Lingus to block an attempted hostile takeover by local low-cost rival Ryanair. Those attempts have been blocked by the Irish competition authority and the European Commission.
Faced with by far the weakest expected profitability of the three big European network carriers, Air France-KLM is preparing a large restructuring program to cut annual costs by up to €800 million ($1.13 billion) CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon presented some basic plans to union representatives earlier this week, but details have yet to be confirmed. Unions are concerned that up to 10,000 jobs could be cut, causing serious reductions in parts of the network.
Lufthansa is officially putting its loss-making subsidiary BMI on the market. The company has formally started a sales process for BMI, and executive board member Stefan Lauer says, in addition to an outright sale, a partnership “could be a viable option.” At the same time, Lufthansa continues in its efforts to reduce losses at the unit.
