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 CFO Karl-Ludwig Kley expects operating profit to increase materially in 2004 and is confident Europe's third-largest airline will also post a net profit. He said the improvement was due to the generally better economic outlook and the restructuring of Lufthansa's unprofitable subsidiaries, LSG SkyChefs and Thomas Cook AG.
Virgin Atlantic Airways will decide on an order of up to 30 wide-bodies within the next few months to make its big expansion plans possible in the next few years. Chairman Richard Branson said the airline is targeting double-digit revenue growth in the medium term and has placed an order for two more Airbus A340-600s on top of the 10 on firm order. For the expansion Virgin Atlantic will chose between the A340 and the Boeing 777.
Swiss International, struggling to benefit from its restructuring plan amid a slow recovery in Europe, yesterday forecast a drop in liquidity to about CHF250 million (US$198 million) in the second quarter from CHF503 million at the end of 2003 despite a recent CHF50 million loan from Barclay's Bank. Swiss drew down the loan on March 16, thanks to British Airways' backing for the loan -- an agreement worked out as part of the BA tie-up with Swiss negotiated last fall (DAILY, Oct. 21, 2003).
