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.
Jet Airways “will join an alliance,” the carrier’s chairman, Naresh Goyal, says. The decision, however, is not due anytime soon — Goyal is looking at merger activity in the U.S. first before making a decision, he told The DAILY at the ITB travel fair in Berlin. Goyal did not rule out joining the Star Alliance, which has invited Air India as a new member (DAILY, Dec. 14). Goyal supports the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines, which he describes as “a very good thing. I believe in consolidation which brings some sense in pricing.”
Qatar Airways is looking at developing a larger narrowbody portion in its fleet. “Fifteen percent of our future fleet will be narrow-bodies,” CEO Akbar al-Bakr told The DAILY at the ITB travel fair in Berlin. Qatar is considering an order for up to 20 Bombardier C Series (including options) or a similar number of Embraer 190 family jets. But al-Bakr says the “aeroplane (C Series) is not yet defined.” The airline also anticipates that it will be one of the early customers of a Boeing 737 or Airbus A320 family replacement.
Austrian Airlines’s main shareholder ÖIAG cleared the entry of Mohammed bin Issa al-Jaber as a new investor for the airline. Al-Jaber proposed to take a 20% stake in the airline earlier this year in a capital increase. The move still needs to be approved by Austrian’s board of directors and the annual shareholder meeting. ÖIAG holds a 42% stake in the carrier.
