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 keep its first-class cabin on intercontinental flights, the airline's head of product and marketing, Thierry Antinori, said. While its new Airbus A340-600s are delivered in a two-class configuration, the airline wants to offer a first-class cabin on at least 80% of its intercontinental flights. According to Antinori, Lufthansa has no plans to introduce an upgraded economy class that has become popular among some of its competitors. -JF
With 102 aircraft on order for $26 billion, Emirates plans to use the $500 million raised recently in a bond sale to help finance its major fleet expansion program. Originally, the airline had planned to raise $400 million, but it increased the size of the sale because of the significant interest in the market, the airline said. About half of the buyers were from the United Arab Emirates.
Seemingly going against the trend toward consolidation in the European airline sector, SAS Scandinavian Airlines is to be split into separate entities in an attempt to save the troubled carrier.
