Adrian is Auckland bureau chief for Aviation Week, based in New Zealand. He covers commercial aviation in the Asia-Pacific region.
Adrian was previously based in Aviation Week’s Washington office for nine years, writing for a range of the group’s publications and covering many aspects of the commercial aviation industry. He has won Australasian and international awards for his aviation writing.
Prior to joining Aviation Week in 2002, Adrian covered aviation industry and policy issues for two other publishing companies in Washington. He has also worked for newspapers in Texas and New Zealand, covering a wide range of topics. Adrian graduated from Auckland University with a degree in history and English in 1992.
A series of one-off costs—mainly related to restructuring initiatives—have helped push Virgin Australia into the red for the year ending June 30. The carrier will not report its full fiscal year results until Aug. 30, but in its latest guidance it predicts an annual loss of A$95-110 million ($84.5-97.8 million). This is a downgrade from previous guidance, and would represent a significant slide from its A$23 million profit in the previous fiscal year.
As U.S. airlines report record profits, the big question is whether the industry is structurally reformed or if this is just the latest climb before the next extended slide. A key part of the answer will be the extent to which airlines adhere to the new religion of capacity constraint. After all, it is easy to keep a lid on capacity when times are tough, but it is a different proposition when the red ink recedes.
For the U.S.’s Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen), this time the sky really might be falling. Just as the program was demonstrating early results and the FAA was solidifying its pro-NextGen leadership, including Administrator Michael Huerta and new Chief NextGen Officer Michael Whitaker, now comes a one-two budget punch that threatens to disrupt the fragile momentum the decade-old program had built up lately.
