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.
U.K. regional and low-fare airline FlyBE (formerly British European) has converted options for 20 Bombardier Q400 turboprops into firm orders, the airline said yesterday. The aircraft, which come on top of a previous order for 17 Q400s, will be delivered within four years. FlyBE plans eventually to operate 41 Q400s and is expected to become the world's largest operator of the type. The order was valued at $485 million by Bombardier and FlyBE.
Olympic Airlines recorded a EUR23.08 million loss (US$30 million) in 2003, the airline said yesterday, but did not make other figures and more recent financial results available. Olympic Airlines is the flight operations unit of the former Olympic Airways, which was split into an airline and a ground-handling company. The Greek government has tried numerous times to sell the unprofitable airline, and the European Commission is investigating whether the carrier received illegal state aid to stay in business. -JF
Ryanair will add six new routes to its Dublin base in the next few months. Services to Biarritz, Carcassonne, Rome and Eindhoven will launch on April 19, while Sheffield and Hahn will start in late April and early May, respectively. Observers say Ryanair went ahead with the expansion to help persuade the Irish government to build a second terminal at Dublin Airport and prevent the launch of a new Dublin-based low-fare airline headed by former Aer Lingus CEO Willie Walsh (DAILY, Jan. 10). -JF
