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.
Eurowings, an aggressive regional carrier, is preparing to launch a new low-cost, no-frills airline dubbed Germanwings. A target date of Oct. 27 has been set for Germanwings to begin operating five Airbus A319 twinjets from Cologne/Bonn airport, its parent company's home base. The new venture is expected to further exacerbate competition on Germany's domestic route system while Deutsche BA is being merged into EasyJet. Eurowings' initiative is backed by Lufthansa German Airlines, which owns a 24.9% stake in the regional carrier.
Rolls-Royce Deutschland is targeting emerging aviation markets in Russia and China for new applications of the BR710 and BR715 turbofans. The German-British manufacturer is involved in two parallel feasibility studies, one with Tupolev vetting the BR715 for the Tu-334 regional twinjet and the other with China's Avic 1 for the proposed ARJ21 (BR710). An agreement with China would lead to the first regional aircraft application for the 14,000-17,000-lb.-thrust BR710.
The regional aircraft market appears set for further changes, after Canadian manufacturer Bombardier Aerospace indicated it might fill the gap left by the collapse of Fairchild Dornier's 728/928 regional jet program. The company's president, Pierre Beaudoin, said at the Farnborough air show that ``there is a need for a five-abreast product,'' but Bombardier would have to figure out if an aircraft in the category provided satisfactory financial returns.
