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.
FAA’s fiscal 2011 budget request signals that the Obama Administration has dropped its plans to introduce aviation user fees, at least for now. The budget proposal, released yesterday, had no reference to funding the aviation system through user fees. This was a notable omission, as the FY2010 budget released last year included footnotes referring to a new user-fee approach. The Transportation Dept. never followed up with a detailed proposal, but the footnotes alone were enough to spark protests from user-fee opponents, such as general aviation groups.
Despite recent encouraging signs, more months of data are needed to get an accurate read on the “direction and pace” of recovery for the airline industry, said Air Transport Association Chief Economist John Heimlich. Heimlich tells Aviation Daily sister publication Aviation Week that a good case can still be made for either continuing recovery or another downward slide. “It’s getting harder and harder to forecast” airline performance, he said, “particularly when the largest cost – fuel – is also the least predictable.”
Adrian Schofield (Washington), Andrew Compart (Washington), Darren Shannon (Washington)
U.S. airlines are beginning 2010 by slowly clawing back some of the ground they lost during a grim 2009. The big question, though, is whether this is the start of real recovery or yet another false dawn for the industry.
