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.
Spanish transportation group Ferrovial yesterday said it is buying airport ground-handling specialist Swissport for CHF1 billion (US$787 million). Ferrovial will pay CHF520 million in cash and take over CHF480 million of debt. Swissport was a unit of aviation company SAir Group, which collapsed in late 2001, and was taken over by private equity investors Candover. The transaction is still subject to regulatory approval.
Lufthansa plans to focus on growing intercontinental routes from its Munich hub, hub manager Karl-Ulrich Garnadt said. The carrier plans to boost traffic by 6%-7% annually in a conservative scenario and today offers more European flights from Munich than from its primary hub in Frankfurt. The airline and Munich Airport invested about EUR1.1 billion in Munich's Terminal 2, designed to handle 25 million passengers in its first year of operation. The terminal is exclusively used by Lufthansa and its Star Alliance partners, plus affiliates like Air Dolomiti.
