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.
Qantas, despite the challenge of running a low-cost carrier parallel to its mainline, is considering investing in airlines outside Australia to take part in the consolidation of the international airline market.
Air Madrid plans to start long-haul flights to Latin America from Madrid at the end of May. The airline will take delivery of two Airbus A330s in May and says it is considering destinations in Cuba, Colombia, Brazil and Costa Rica among others. The aircraft, two A330-200s, come on five-year leases from ILFC. "We plan to add one or two planes to our fleet each year to keep up with our expansion," General Manager Javier Taibo said.
Thomas Cook Airlines, formerly Lufthansa's charter subsidiary Condor, is under pressure to cut costs, as the concern's tour operators are forcing the airline to offer its seats at lower fares. An executive at Neckermann, a major German tour operator owned by Thomas Cook, said in Frankfurt his company had for the first time negotiated competitive airfares with the carrier. However, the fare reduction had not yet been recovered through lower costs, he added.
