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.
European low-cost carriers will have to keep their low-fare structure, but offer a product attractive to business travelers to survive, Vueling’s CEO Alex Cruz told the delegates at the World Low-Cost Airline Conference this week in London. “We have broken all the commandments of the low-cost bible,” Cruz says, offering connecting flights, flying to major airports, using passenger loading bridges there and introducing added features for business travelers. “We are proving it can be done with a very low-cost structure,” he points out.
Aer Lingus CEO Christoph Mueller believes a “full free float is the best way to go” for airlines, if no obvious strategic investor can be found. Mueller made the comment at the World Low-Cost Airlines Conference this week in London. The Irish government has announced its intention to sell its 25% stake in the airline, and co-owner Ryanair is also willing to sell. “You cannot focus on the three big carriers (Air France-KLM, International Airlines Group, Lufthansa) as potential buyers,” Mueller says.
Lufthansa issued a profit warning on Tuesday saying it no longer expects to exceed last year’s €876 million ($1.2 billion) operating profit. It told the German stock exchange the revision reflects surprisingly weak August travel and forward bookings. It also confirmed it will scale back winter capacity growth plans, but did not go into detail. The airline initially planned to grow by 12%, but cut back to 6% earlier in the year. Its shares dropped by 4% following the announcement.
