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.
The German low-fare carrier market is quickly moving toward more consolidation, after DBA and Germania Express (Gexx) announced a merger that will see Gexx vanish as a separate entity by the end of March.
Lufthansa is considering filing for damages for costs incurred in Wednesday's chaotic morning traffic at Frankfurt Airport. The airline had to cancel 75 flights at its main hub and stood by as more than 300 additional services were delayed after the airport shut down for about one hour as a security measure surrounding the visit of U.S. President George W. Bush to Germany.
Delays are becoming more frequent again in European air traffic after four years of improved performance, the Association of European Airlines (AEA) said this week. AEA figures show that 19.5% of all flights in 2004 arrived more than 15 minutes late, up from 19.1% in 2003. Performance was better in the second and fourth quarters, but worse than in the previous year and the first and third quarters. In 1999, the worst year for delays on record, European airlines incurred delays for 30.4% of all flights.
