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.
Air France-KLM, Europe's largest airline, saw traffic grow by 8.1% in August, reflecting the strong rebound in demand that continued over the summer. The airline added 5.1% in capacity and its load factor consequently improved by 2.4 points to 84.1%. "Air France-KLM in August continued to experience a strong increase in both activity levels and traffic revenues, confirming the positive trend of recent months and booking for the forthcoming months," the airline said in a statement.
The Austrian Airlines Group has withdrawn from bidding in the privatization of Bratislava Airport in what appears to be a further sign of the deteriorating financial condition of the company.
Ryanair last month for the first time carried more passengers than its incumbent rival British Airways. The low-fare airline transported 3.26 million passengers, a 27% increase, while British Airways carried 3.1 million. The BA figures were hurt by a wildcat strike at London Heathrow Airport that grounded the airline for more than 24 hours (DAILY, Aug. 12). Ryanair expects to exceed BA's full-year passenger count as well. -JF
