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 plans to give more autonomy to its hub operations in Frankfurt and Munich, and appointed two senior executives to the newly created positions of hub managers. The two managers, Karl-Ulrich Garnadt (Munich) and Karl-Rudolf Rupprecht (Frankfurt), will be responsible for everything concerning the hubs, including service quality, punctuality, passenger and baggage processes, commercial relations with airports and suppliers, as well as strategic developments.
BMI British Midland's low-fare unit bmibaby will base three aircraft in Birmingham, starting in January 2005, and initially introduce nine routes from the airport. Bmibaby will fly to Geneva, Prague, Knock, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Belfast, Palma de Majorca, Malaga and Alicante.
Germany's competition authority Bundeskartellamt this week cleared Lufthansa's decision to remove travel agency commissions. Lufthansa will cut all commissions -- currently 5%-9% of the ticket price -- by Sept. 1 and charge its customers the full current ticket fare anyway. The airline said travel agencies could charge a service fee on top. Bundeskartellamt said that despite Lufthansa's dominant position in the German market the company could not be blocked from going ahead with cost-cutting measures.
