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.
In the next round of U.S.-European Union open-skies talks this fall, the U.S. will propose waiving nationality clauses in other bilaterals that limit U.S. or EU citizens from investing in third-country airlines. This, the U.S. says, will give airlines in these countries greater access to capital. The proposal will not affect ownership and control rules between the U.S. or the EU. When the nationality clause issue was first raised in May, the EU said it was no substitute for the real prize of easing U.S. ownership and control regulations (DAILY, May 15).
FAA Acting Administrator Robert Sturgell says he is working with TSA Administrator Kip Hawley to restore a program in which air-traffic controllers ride in the cockpit on some airline flights to familiarize themselves with pilot procedures. The program was canceled for security reasons in 2001. Sturgell says he wants to get the program “largely back into place” before the current administration leaves office. He describes it as offering benefits to both controllers and airline pilots.
A merger of British Airways and Iberia would create the sixth-largest fleet value in insurance terms, estimates AON. The group notes that BA currently is eighth-largest in terms of fleet value and Iberia is 23rd. The fleet value of the combined entity is expected to be about $27.5 billion.
