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.
German low-fare airline DBA recorded its first-ever full-year profit last year, Chairman Hans-Rudolf Woehrl said last week. The company made a EUR1.7 million (US$2 million) net profit on EUR279 million (US$336 million) last year, having lost EUR62 million a year earlier. DBA was set up in 1992 as British Airways subsidiary Deutsche BA and never turned a profit until a year ago. It revamped its operations in 2002 to turn into a low-fare carrier.
EasyJet is adding six daily services to its European network, a move that will result in the airline serving 216 markets and 64 airports. The airline will launch services from London Gatwick airport to Murcia, Spain, and Grenoble, France, on Sept. 23 and Dec. 16, respectively. It also starts services from Dortmund to both Barcelona and Milan on Oct. 30 and from Geneva to Lisbon and Malaga, Spain. All the flights, except Lisbon, connect existing easyJet destinations. -JF
Two German low-cost airlines, Air Berlin and Hapag-Lloyd Express, posted strong growth in the first six months of the year. Air Berlin said sales surged 23% to EUR564 million (US$687 million) in the first half of the year, as passenger numbers increased by 15% to 6.1 million. The airline expects to carry around 14 million passengers in the full year. Air Berlin does not disclose financial results, since it is privately held.
