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.
Australia’s Skywest Airlines has more than doubled its order of ATR 72-600 turboprops, enabling the carrier to handle more of Virgin Australia’s regional network. Skywest has boosted its ATR 72-600 order by five aircraft to a total of nine, in addition to four -500s that have already been delivered. Skywest operates the turboprops on behalf of Virgin Australia, adding new services and replacing Embraer 170 jets on many regional routes. Virgin intends to phase out its E170 fleet, although it will retain its larger E190s.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce says demand has rebounded strongly in the wake of an industrial action campaign and a temporary fleet grounding that damaged the carrier’s public image.
Fokker says Australian regional carrier Skywest will be the first to operate Fokker 100s with the satellite-based navigation system known as automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B). The Skywest Fokker 100s will use ADS-B Out to comply with new requirements by Airservices Australia for the use of ADS-B Out in upper airspace, beginning in December 2013. This will also allow the aircraft to be used in certain lower airspace in Western Australia, where Airservices plans to roll out ADS-B coverage in the future.
