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.
Hawaiian Airlines managed a narrow first-quarter profit, an improvement from the previous year’s first quarter and better than the airline’s expectations at the start of this year. The net profit for the quarter was $0.9 million, compared with a profit of $0.2 million for the first quarter of 2010. However, much of the improvement was due to mark-to-market gains in Hawaiian’s fuel hedging position. The first quarter saw an operating loss of $4.9 million, versus an operating profit of $5.6 million a year earlier.
Japan Airlines Group is trimming its domestic timetable to reflect the demand slowdown following the March 11 earthquake, and the carrier expects bookings to take a significant hit during the upcoming Golden Week holiday period. The domestic schedule adjustment was not a surprise, given that JAL earlier this month extended temporary reductions to its international network through May. In its most recent announcement, JAL says it is reducing frequencies on some domestic routes “as travel demand declined following the Great East Japan Earthquake.”
FAA has tweaked its rules for handling White House VIP flights following an embarrassing loss-of-separation incident involving an aircraft carrying First Lady Michelle Obama. The agency says that from now on, air traffic control supervisors will oversee flights carrying the first lady or vice president in the Washington D.C. area, and at other destinations where possible. A similar requirement is already in place for flights carrying the president.
