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.
While carriers around the world are still enjoying strong growth rates and higher fares backed by global GDP growth, several factors may lead the industry into an overcapacity situation as soon as next year. These factors include uncertainty over the price of fuel, GDP development in key markets, markedly increasing delivery stream for new aircraft backed by a stronger than expected early order cycle and, not the least, the ambitious expansion in various pivotal markets planned for this summer.
Lufthansa is no longer pursuing any takeovers in Europe. “The pressure to buy something is extremely low,” new CEO Christoph Franz said at the airline’s annual news conference in Frankfurt.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) expects fares to continue their upward trend with the supply-demand conditions still “close to historic highs,” the association says in its current Premium Traffic Monitor. IATA points out that fares are still 15% below the pre-recession peak, but 15% above the January 2009 low. Premium travel was up 8.1% in January after growth slowed significantly in December as a result of the severe winter weather. Overall traffic increased by 5.1%, indicating the strong rebound of first- and business-class demand.
