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.
Thirty years after Congress jolted U.S. airlines out of their regulated cocoon, aviation leaders are still debating whether this process went too far—or not far enough. While nobody wants the clock wound back to 1978, serious questions are being raised about what level of government involvement is needed to protect consumers and ensure a healthy industry.
For the first time in recent memory, U.S. airlines appear well-placed to weather an economic downturn. While carriers admit the worst of the expected demand slump is yet to hit, a combination of plummeting oil prices and drastic capacity cuts are causing a rare outbreak of optimism.
U.S. major airlines saw their best domestic yield growth of the year in September, but some international regions saw lower growth. According to data released by the Air Transport Association based on seven reporting carriers, September domestic yield was up 12.5% year-on-year. This was almost double the increase in August. Yield was up 9.1% for transatlantic markets and 7% in the Pacific, which in both cases was lower growth than August. Latin American yields rose 23.2%.
