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.
Virgin Atlantic majority shareholder Richard Branson may take the airline public, a Virgin Atlantic spokesman said yesterday. Before launching an initial public offering, he could buy back a 49% stake held by Singapore Airlines. SIA-CEO Chew Choon Seng said last month his company was exploring options on what to do with its Virgin Atlantic stake (DAILY, Aug. 3).
Frankfurt airport operator Fraport would consider bidding for BAA assets should its British rival be forced to spin off one or more of its London area airports. "When things are getting concrete, we'll take a look at it," Fraport CEO Wilhelm Bender said yesterday. British competition authorities have launched an investigation into an alleged dominant position of BAA in the London air transport market and could force the company to be broken into several parts.
Russian airline conglomerate AiRUnion has big ambitions centered on becoming an internationally recognized carrier that eventually could be invited to join the Star Alliance. The alliance of five Russian airlines expects to grow by around 10% annually in the next few years and wants to increase passenger numbers from 3.65 million to more than 8 million while modernizing and doubling its existing fleet.
