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 charter and low-fare airline Air Berlin posted revenues of EUR170 million (US$204 million) in the first quarter, a 37% improvement that Managing Director Joachim Hunold said pointed to a strong 2004. Passenger numbers also increased 34%, indicating a slight overall improvement in average yields, while load factor was up 1.3 percentage points at 74.8%. Air Berlin said passenger numbers in its low-fare division City Shuttle almost doubled to 546,000 in the period. City Shuttle connects eight German cities with various European destinations.
Excerpts of a new business plan presented by Alitalia CEO Marco Zanichelli show the carrier wants to grow significantly in the next three years to restore profitability but still believes the plan's feasibility depends on the outcome of labor union talks.
Under pressure from unions, KLM senior management has dropped a bonus plan -- approved as part of the prospective Air France takeover -- which would have given top executives up to half of their salaries as a bonus if certain milestones were met during the next three years. KLM planned to explain the decision at an extraordinary board meeting that was continuing Monday evening. The carrier's unions threatened to go on strike if the plan was implemented.
