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's archrivals in the German domestic and leisure markets are gaining strength through closer cooperation and pose a renewed threat for the network carrier's European operations. DBA, formerly British Airways subsidiary Deutsche BA, and Air Berlin last week said they are beginning to cooperate more closely in marketing and sales. The two airlines will link their respective web sites, on which they offer one another's flights. Air Berlin has a similar arrangement with Austrian low-fare airline FlyNiki, in which it holds a 25% stake.
Brazil's main international airline, Varig, has two crucial deadlines looming in its bankruptcy proceedings that could likely determine its fate. Varig has to present restructuring plans to a U.S. bankruptcy court on Dec. 19 and to a Rio de Janeiro/Brazil-based court on Jan. 8. The airline gained a short 20-day reprieve, after the Brazilian court said it miscalculated the timing with the original rescue plan also due by mid-December.
Air France-KLM, SAS Group and Easyjet yesterday reported strong traffic growth for November. At Air France-KLM, traffic was up 12.2%, mainly due to strong demand on its North Atlantic routes. EasyJet reported a 8.5% increase in the number of passengers flown and SAS saw traffic grow by 8.3%. -JF
