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 Cargo expects to move its Asian hub from Astana, Kazakhstan, to Krasnoyarsk in Russia, after negotiators for Germany and Russia reached a settlement in the long-standing dispute on overflight charges. CEO Carsten Spohr said the airline will likely use Krasnoyarsk mainly for technical stops from mid-2009. The move is conditional upon infrastructure upgrades at the airport.
Alitalia’s shares dropped sharply on Monday, even though the carrier’s board of directors accepted an offer by Air France-KLM to take over the airline. The stock plunged 38% in the morning after news emerged that the Air France-KLM offer values the Italian carrier at only EUR139 million, an 81% reduction from last week’s market capitalization.
German regional carrier Cirrus Airlines is relaunching its business model and wants to become a carrier focused on high-yield business traffic. The company is relocating from its current base in Saarbruecken to Munich. Cirrus plans to operate a fleet of 22 Dornier 328s by the end of 2008 and will phase out six de Havilland Dash 8s. The scheduled operation will be complemented by an ad hoc executive charter business operating three Embraer 170s. Two of the aircraft are currently operating under wet-lease for Lufthansa.
