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.
Qatar Airways will expand its network by six destinations this year. The airline will introduce flights to Bengaluru, Tokyo, Copenhagen, Ankara, Barcelona and Sydney. The Doha-Bengaluru service will be launched in February and operated as a daily roundtrip. Bengaluru is Qatar Airways’ 11th point in India. Tokyo will come on line at the end of April. The daily flight will be routed via Osaka. Seoul, which was previously linked to the Osaka roundtrip, will then be served daily in its own right.
Air Berlin and SR Technics have signed a 10-year deal that covers maintenance for a significant part of the airline’s engines. SR Technics will overhaul CFM56-7B, CFM56-5B and PW4168 engines that power the carrier’s fleet of Airbus A320s, Boeing 737s and A330s. The deal also includes a financing arrangement for 12 spare engines that are provided by SR Technics worth about $100 million.
German special charter operator Blue Wings appears to be in financial difficulties again, only a few months after the airline was temporarily grounded by German aviation authorities. Blue Wings was unable to pay wages in December and paid only 50% of them in November, the carrier confirmed. A spokesperson said the financial crunch is due to a dispute over shareholder commitments.
