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 selected a Wi-Fi-delivered inflight entertainment (IFE) system that moves content from seatback screens to passengers’ own devices. The BoardConnect system, developed by Lufthansa Services, will be installed from mid-2012. It will enable passengers to access video and audio content on their laptops, tablets and other personal entertainment devices. The two companies have signed a memorandum of intent covering production and installation. Virgin America is another customer of the system.
A European project focusing on the development of controller support tools has succeeded in raising their rate of introduction, although now the challenge is improving cross-border cooperation in this area. The six-year First ATC Support Tools Implementation (FASTI) program is drawing to a close, but Eurocontrol is confident that enough momentum has been created through this effort to spur further deployment in the near future. Through the program’s duration, 36 air navigation service providers (ANSPs) and equipment suppliers participated.
Virgin Australia and Singapore Airlines (SIA) plan to launch flights to Darwin and coordinate the new services, which is the first step in the two airlines’ efforts to link their networks following government approval of their alliance.
