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, reported a 7.8% traffic increase for June, backed by strong demand on its long-haul routes to the Americas and Asia. Load factor improved by 2.1% to 81.5% as the airline boosted capacity by 4.6%. SASís traffic was up 4% in the same period. EasyJet also reported improved returns -- a 15% increase in passenger numbers and a slight 0.4-point drop in load factor to 85.6%. -JF
Austrian Airlines Group traffic in June rose in line with capacity expansion after the airline suffered from hefty load factor declines earlier this year. The airline's traffic was up 8.8% on 8.7% more capacity. Austrian said, however, that high fuel prices and lower yields continue to depress earnings. Austrian warned earlier that it would post a loss for the full year, supplanting forecasts that it would be profitable. -JF
Lufthansa plans to significantly boost its capacity on routes from Germany to the Ukraine, adding services and destinations and complicating life for Star Alliance partner Austrian Airlines. The airline is launching six-times weekly service from Frankfurt to Dnjepropetrovsk and from Munich to Donezk. It is also adding six weekly flights from Dusseldorf to Kiev before the end of August. The new Munich service will be launched in September and the Frankfurt service will launch in October.
