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.
After more than 18 months of negotiations, Swiss and a consortium of banks agreed on a CHF325 million-credit facility (US $270 million), which will make the airline's short-term survival more likely.
Spanish airline Iberia significantly improved profits in the first nine months of 2004, while its competitor TAP Air Portugal suffered a setback with a short decrease in profitability. Iberia's positive results were the product of sharp cost control as the airline's unit costs dropped 5.2%. The Spanish carrier posted a EUR166 million (US$212 million) net profit, up 52% from last year. Sales were up 4.4% to EUR3.59 billion (US$4.5 billion). Capacity rose 9.2%, outpaced by a 10% traffic gain. Average yield fell 4.4%.
With revenue up 50% for the first 10 months of the year and load factor up at 82.3%, Germanwings expects to continue its impressive growth into the next year. The carrier hopes to carry 4.5 million to 6 million passengers in Fiscal Year 2005 and operate up to 20 aircraft. Germanwings carried 2.8 million passengers in the year to date and operates a fleet of 14 Airbus A319/A320s. Traffic increased 44%, indicating a decline in average yields, and Managing Director Joachim Klein said the company has "continuously produced positive monthly results."
