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 Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) extended its approval for the British Airways/Qantas alliance on the kangaroo route between London and Sydney for another five years.
Wizzair, the Hungarian low-fare airline that started operations last year, is looking at an initial public offering in 2008. Airline CEO Joszef Varadi told The DAILY his carrier does not need another capital infusion between the last increase in December (EUR25 million) and the potential flotation. The airline plans to finance the growth with its own resources. Varadi also reports that Wizzair -- with bases in Hungary and Poland -- will post profits for the first time in the spring, less than one year after the launch of services.
Air France-KLM traffic jumped 10.6% in January, with long-haul volumes up more sharply than medium-haul and domestic traffic. The overall load factor improved 3.3 percentage points to 78%. Traffic to the Americas increased 9.6% and to Asia 17.6%, while intra-European and domestic demand rose 8.8%. The slowest growth was reported for the routes to Africa and the Middle East, up 7%. When traffic is split between the two carriers, KLM achieved a 76.7% load factor, up four points, while load factor at Air France stood at 80.4%, up 1.9 points. -JF
