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.
Four major aviation organizations are expected to announce a new agreement today to exchange safety data. Under the declaration-of-intent, the International Air Transport Association, ICAO, FAA and the European Union would set up a system to swap oversight and audit information. The groups must still work on issues such as standardizing data, making sure respective privacy regulations are not breached, and how the results would be disseminated.
The White House is back to square one in its attempts to fill the vacant TSA administrator’s position after nominee Robert Harding withdrew his name from consideration March 26. Harding, a retired general who held senior posts in the military intelligence structure, had already been facing tough questions about payments he had to return in relation to a government contract his security company won. While a government watchdog cleared him of wrongdoing, Harding was attracting criticism for the mistake.
Singapore Airlines saw a healthy jump in passenger and cargo demand in February, with the first year-on-year gains in enplanements and passenger traffic since October 2008. Passenger traffic rose 9.9%, compared with February 2009, on 4.2% less capacity. This led to a load factor increase of 10.2 percentage points to 79.9%. However, the carrier notes that its numbers were helped by the Chinese New Year holiday falling in February instead of January this year. The Singapore Airshow, held in early February, also boosted demand.
