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.
Continental is seeing a slight improvement in advance bookings compared to last year, and it forecasts a three-point gain in load factor for the third quarter. Mainline domestic booked load factor for the next six weeks is running one to two percentage points higher than at the same time last year. Latin American and transpacific booked load factor are about flat, while transatlantic is up six to seven points. Consolidated load factor should be 84%-85% for the third quarter, with mainline loads at 85%-86%.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association has a new leader, with Paul Rinaldi winning a runoff election to become the union’s president. Rinaldi captured 53% of the vote, versus 47% for Ruth Marlin. A runoff was required after no candidate received a 51% or greater majority in the main ballot. Rinaldi has been a controller for 18 years, and works at the Washington Dulles tower.
American expects to report a large year-on-year unit revenue decline in the third quarter, although the drop is not quite as steep as it saw in the second quarter. In its latest guidance update, American said its third quarter mainline unit revenue is likely to drop by 14.5%-15.5% compared to the same period last year, while second quarter mainline unit revenue dropped 16%. Consolidated unit revenue for the third quarter is projected to be down 14.3%-15.3%. Cargo and other revenue is likely to be down 12.7%-13.7%.
