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.
IATA yesterday terminated the membership of one airline — Aeropostal de Venezuela — for not passing a required safety audit by a March 31 deadline, bringing the total that have left IATA for not completing the audit to 21. All of the group’s members were required to complete the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) by the end of 2008, but IATA was still processing about 20 audits this year. Of these, Aeropostal was the only one that had its membership terminated, said Mike O’Brien, IATA’s director of auditing.
The current economic downturn will be felt through the entire 16-year span of the FAA’s industry forecast, agency officials believe. Passenger and traffic growth curves for U.S. carriers have been set back by about five years, compared to last year’s estimate, according to the forecast. FAA now expects to hit the 1 billion passenger mark in 2021, instead of 2016 (DAILY, March 31).
FAA administrator nominee Randy Babbitt won’t have the luxury of a honeymoon period in his new role, and he acknowledges that he will quickly have to grapple with major challenges ranging from modernization to labor disputes and funding questions.
