Janni Spies
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Janni Spies (née Brodersen, born 19 September 1962) is a Danish businesswoman, multimillionaire, and former owner of the Scandinavian travelling empire including the
charter airline Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a ticket through a traditional airline). Regulation Charter – also called air taxi or ad hoc – flight ...
Conair of Scandinavia Conair of Scandinavia A/S was a Danish charter airline based at Copenhagen Airport. It merged with Scanair to establish Sunclass Airlines, Premiair in 1994. History Conair was founded by the Scandinavian charter pioneer Simon Spies in 1965. ...
, companies she inherited from her first husband Simon Spies. Formerly one of Denmark's five richest and the 10th wealthiest woman in Europe, Spies today is chairwoman for ''Simon Spies Fonden'' (The Simon Spies Foundation).


Biography

Spies was born Janni Isager Brodersen on 19 September 1962 to Yvonne Brodersen (1929–2007) and Werner Heinrich Isager (1922–2011) in the
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
suburb
Herlev Herlev is a suburb about 11 km northwest of Copenhagen city centre, bordering Rødovre to the south, Ballerup to the west and Gladsaxe Municipality, Gladsaxe to the north. It is the site of the municipal council of Herlev Municipality, Denma ...
. Her mother was a
seamstress A dressmaker, also known as a seamstress, is a person who makes clothing for women, such as dresses, blouses, and evening gowns. Dressmakers were historically known as mantua-makers, and are also known as a modiste or fabrician. Notable d ...
and homemaker, and her father was a telephone technician. When in
tenth grade Tenth grade (also 10th Grade or Grade 10) is the tenth year of formal or compulsory education. It is typically the second year of high school. In many parts of the world, students in tenth grade are usually 15 to 16 years of age. Australia In ...
, Janni at age 16 dropped out of school and started working as a messenger girl at the travelling agency . She caught the attention of the company owner, Simon Spies, and the then 20-year-old Janni married the 61-year-old Simon Spies on 11 May 1983 in
Holmen Church The Holmen Church () is a Parish church in central Copenhagen in Denmark, on the street called Holmens Kanal. First built as an anchor forge in 1563, it was converted into a naval church by Christian IV. It is famous for having hosted the wedd ...
in central Copenhagen. To their wedding 3.000 guests were invited. Simon Spies died less than a year later on 16 April 1984, and bequeathed the majority of his estate to his wife, making her one of Europe's richest women. Spies became chairwoman of the board upon her husband's death, and in 1989 acquired the travelling agency . Spies sold the entire company in 1996 to what is now
Sunclass Airlines Sunclass Airlines Aktieselskab, A/S is a Denmark, Danish Air charter, charter airline that operates charter services from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. The company is affiliated with Ving Group, a Nordic tour operator. It was, together wit ...
. She has later been accused of having destroyed her inheritance by bringing her brother, a former toolmaker, Leif Brodersen on the board together with a friend of his, the former trade union economist
Steffen Møller Steffen is a surname and given name, and may refer to: Surname *Albert Steffen (1884–1963), Swiss poet, painter, and novelist *Alex Steffen (b. 1968), American writer and environmental futurist * Anthony Steffen (1929–2004), Brazilian actor; ...
. Her board now counseled her to purchase three
Airbus A300 The Airbus A300 is Airbus' first production aircraft and the world's first Twinjet, twin-engine, double-aisle Wide-body aircraft, (wide-body) airliner. It was developed by ''Airbus Industrie GIE'', now merged into Airbus SE, and manufactured f ...
in 1987 and in 1991 another six brand new and very expensive
Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first membe ...
. As the Airbus A300 were very difficult to sell, the passengers became fewer due to the
Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...
the entire Spies company ended up in severe financial difficulties. According to the General Manager at the time,
Knud Heinesen Knud Heinesen (26 September 1932 – 8 January 2025) was a Danish economist and politician who held various cabinet posts, including the minister of education and minister of finance. In 1985 he retired from politics and was involved in business ...
, had this never happened if Janni had listened to him instead, and merged or cooperated with Copenhagen-based
Sterling Airways Sterling Airlines A/S was a low-cost airline with its head office at Copenhagen Airport South in Dragør, Dragør Municipality, Denmark. It was created in September 2005 through the merger of two Danish airlines — Sterling European Airlin ...
instead. Also her second husband, the lawyer and politician Christian Kjær agreed. And as he took over as chairman of the board, (with Janni as vice chairwoman only) Leif Brodersen left the Spies company. But the financial problems didn't end there, and in 1993 had several banks to add new capital to the bankruptcy threatened travelling agency. And in 1996 was Spies Rejser sold to the British travel company
Airtours MyTravel Group plc was a British, global travel group headquartered in Rochdale, England. It was founded in 1972 as Airtours Group. The group included two in-house airlines, MyTravel Airways UK and MyTravel Airways Scandinavia, and various to ...
while Conair merged with Scanair into Premiair, changing the name to Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia, which today is Sunclass Airlines A/S. Spies is chairwoman for ''Simon Spies Fonden'' (The Simon Spies Foundation) that supports science, business, arts, and sport, and typically donates some 2-3 million DKK every year. In 2007, Spies was made a Dame of the
Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog () is a Denmark, Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V of Denmark, Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the Order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single cla ...
.


Private life

From 1985 to 1987, Spies dated and was engaged to Swedish actor and director
Gunnar Hellström Gunnar Hellström (6 December 1928 – 28 November 2001) was a cinema of Sweden, Swedish actor and Film director, director. Partial filmography * ''While the City Sleeps (1950 film), While the City Sleeps'' (1950) - Young Man in Restaurant * ...
(1928–2001). She dated estate agent for a short while, before marrying in 1988. The marriage produced two children but ended in divorce in 2008, followed by bitter court cases.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spies, Janni 1962 births Living people Businesspeople from Copenhagen Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog