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 was forced to cancel up to 1,000 flights on July 21 and July 22, as pilots at regional units Lufthansa CityLine and Eurowings walked off their jobs. Eurowings pilots want to be paid the same as their colleagues at CityLine who themselves are demanding a big increase in pay. Their demands would make them paid similarly to Lufthansa’s junior mainline crews.
Ryanair is cutting its London Stansted capacity by 14% in the coming winter, grounding eight of the 36 aircraft based at the airport. The airline cites high fuel prices and airport fees as the main reasons for the decision. Ryanair expects to carry 900,000 fewer passengers to and from Stansted in the winter timetable. Weekly departures are reduced from 1,850 to about 1,600. While the airline is cutting frequencies to existing destinations, it is adding Fuerteventura, Ibiza, Tenerife, Malaga, Katowice and Basel to its Stansted network.
Spanair is making deep cuts to its route network and employee base. The SAS Group subsidiary said this week it will reduce its work force by 1,100 people from the current 3,800. Spanair will discontinue nine unprofitable routes, among them Madrid to Munich and Vienna, the hubs of Star Alliance partners Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines. The Spanish carrier is grounding 15 aircraft in September.
