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.
European regional airlines continue to see disappointing average yields as traffic begins its slow climb back to the heady numbers of the 1990s. Members of the European Regions Airline Assn. (ERA), assembled for their annual general meeting here, reported a 5.4% growth in passenger numbers for the first half of 2003 and a 7% growth in revenue passenger miles. In May and in June, the regional market began to recover from the impact of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and the Iraq war on travel, with carriers posting passenger growth of 6.7%.
Swiss International Air Lines' European traffic was down 20% in the third quarter, the company reported. The struggling airline, which announced its membership in the oneworld alliance late last month, cut European capacity 25% in the same period as part of its efforts to achieve a financial turnaround. Load factor stood at 68.6%, up 4.9 percentage points from the comparable 2002 quarter. -JF
