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.
The FAA has awarded another round of NextGen contracts worth more than $4.3 billion over 10 years, aimed at demonstrating concepts such as four-dimensional ATC and advanced weather systems. If options are exercised, Boeing will receive $1.7 billion, General Dynamics $1.2 billion, and ITT $1.4 billion. The base contracts are for five years, with two options to extend. Each company will receive specific task orders through the contract term.
The FAA on May 27 is expected to unveil its long-awaited final rule on automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B). The rule is expected to mandate the equipage requirements and timeline for ADS-B “out” service. This will allow the FAA to use ADS-B data for ATC surveillance.
Air New Zealand says it is starting to add capacity back into its schedule in reaction to improving demand. International capacity will increase by 4.9% year-on-year for the November-through-March season, while domestic capacity grows 3.8%. The largest increases will be on the San Francisco, Vancouver and Los Angeles routes, with Japan flights also rising U.K. and China markets will be unchanged.
