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.
Lufthansa will try to reduce unit costs by 40% in its short-haul operation without the help of low-fare affiliate Germanwings, CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber said at the Continental/Star Alliance inauguration in New York yesterday.
Iberia yesterday announced massive changes to its business model in an effort to return to profitability, including creating a new subsidiary to feed traffic to Madrid. The airline’s board of directors approved the strategic plan, which will be implemented by 2011. “The airline industry has never experienced such a dramatic situation,” Chief Operating Officer Rafael Sanchez-Lozano said. “It is essential for us to use imaginative means to transform Iberia into a sound and viable project.”
Iberia and Brazilian low-fare airline GOL have agreed to put Iberia’s code on Brazilian domestic flights. The two carriers will link Iberia’s two daily Madrid-Sao Paolo services and the daily Rio de Janeiro flight with 13 GOL destinations — Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Curitiba, Florianopolis, Fortaleza, Foz do Iguaçu, Goiania, Manaus, Natal, Porto Alegre, Recife, Salvador de Bahia and Vitoria. The airlines are also considering linking frequent flyer programs, Iberia Plus and Smiles.
