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.
Virgin Australia has started repainting the first aircraft acquired in the takeover of regional operator Skywest Airlines and expects to complete the rebranding to Virgin Australia Regional Airlines in 12 months. A Skywest Airbus A320, Fokker 50 and Fokker 100 already have been repainted in Virgin Australia colors since the April 11 takeover.
A new set of required navigation performance (RNP) routes and an airspace redesign have dramatically improved access to New Zealand tourist destination Queenstown. Queenstown, which is located in mountainous terrain with a difficult approach, was among the first adopters of RNP approaches in 2004. Since then it has often been cited as an example of the potential benefits of these advanced procedures.
Australian regional airlines are using an upcoming general election to draw attention to policies they say are strangling the industry. And it appears that a power change is their best hope for seeing at least some of these concerns resolved.
