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.
The integration of BMI into British Airways will occur “as soon as possible,” with a first tranche of BMI flights to be sold on May 23 and a second following in June, says BA CEO Keith Williams.
Regional airline OLT Express Germany is close to acquiring Stuttgart-based Contact Air, which recently lost a contract to provide capacity to Lufthansa. Industry sources tell Aviation Week that a letter of intent has been signed and that Contact Air staff were informed of the deal May 11. None of the airlines involved would comment on the matter.
Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways are already investors in European Union carriers. Now Turkish Airlines is considering following suit. Turkish Chairman Hamdi Topcu said last week his company was close to making a bid for LOT Polish Airlines, a partner in the Star Alliance. Details of the possible transaction were not made public, but foreign ownership restrictions would limit an investment to a minority share. Turkish would also not be able to exert effective control of LOT if the Polish carrier is to retain traffic rights outside the European Union.
