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.
International passenger traffic is seeing a worsening decline, with January demand down 5.6% over the same month last year, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reports. The January decrease is a point higher than the 4.6% slump seen in December, and it marks the fifth consecutive month of decline. The 5.6% drop overshadows a 2% capacity decline, leading to load factor falling 2.8 points to 72.8%. The IATA figures cover traffic on international flights only.
Air New Zealand managed to eke out a net profit of NZ$24 million (US$12.2 million) for the last six months of 2008, down 79% from the profit recorded a year earlier.
The aviation industry is still waiting to see whom the Obama Administration names as FAA administrator and deputy DOT secretary. It has been widely assumed for weeks that former ALPA head Randy Babbitt is the choice for FAA, and former FAA head Jane Garvey would be DOT deputy secretary — although some industry sources suggest that Garvey has withdrawn from consideration. Announcements have been expected a few times in the past several days, but nothing happened.
