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.
SAS Group yesterday failed to reach an agreement with some of its major unions on desperately needed cost cuts in time to meet a self-imposed deadline. CEO Joergen Lindegaard was expected to recommend that the supervisory board proceed with mass layoffs, the transfer of mainline routes to lower-cost subsidiaries, such as Air Baltic, Spanair or Estonian, and pull out of a significant number of markets altogether.
Volvo Aero and British Airways have signed a deal on the marketing of the airline's surplus spares inventory. Volvo Aero will sell about $100 million in spares owned by Europe's biggest airline and will itself provide BA with spares as needed. The deal becomes effective in the first quarter and covers part for Boeing 747-400s, 777s, 767s, 757s and 737s. -JF
Swiss International Air Lines is expected to report dismal results for 2003 today at a news conference in Basel. The airline this month said it had lost CHF687 million in 2003 after a deficit of nearly CHF1 billion in 2002. Swiss also is expected to reveal whether it has reached a deal with a consortium of banks for a desperately needed loan, and give an update on the search for a new CEO, following the resignation of Andre Dose. -JF
