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.
Declining air travel demand is being felt in Japan as much as elsewhere in the world, with Japan Airlines seeing a significant slowdown. JAL predicts that traffic over the Dec. 26-Jan. 4 peak travel period will be down 3.2%, outstripping the carrier’s 1% capacity cut. International services are being hit particularly hard — with traffic likely to drop 6.6% on a 4.8% capacity reduction. However, load factor will increase on some routes, notably those to Korea, Honolulu, Taiwan and China. Domestic capacity is up slightly, with traffic down 1.9%.
FAA is downgrading Israel’s air safety rating, restricting the ability of Israeli airlines to add new flights to the U.S. While FAA gave few details to clarify its rationale, there has been long-standing criticism within Israel regarding the effectiveness of its Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), and concerns about congested airspace on the approaches to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport. FAA said the CAA is “addressing the items identified, including working with the FAA on an aggressive action plan to correct all areas of concern.”
U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee leaders wrote to the Transportation and Justice Depts. signaling concerns about joint ventures proposed by airline alliances, and stressed that the regulators must scrutinize them closely.
