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.
Airbus yesterday announced deals covering 143 aircraft worth more than $15.5 billion at list prices, although all but 20 of these orders had already been outlined in earlier agreements. Most of the orders came from fast-growing lessor Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) Capital, which confirmed a deal for 100 aircraft. Tunisair also confirmed an earlier commitment for 16 aircraft. The new deals were 23 firm orders for lessor Aviation Capital Group, and a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Qatar for four aircraft.
Bombardier says it is in advanced talks to obtain more orders for its CSeries, following Lufthansa’s commitment to order up to 60 aircraft. The CSeries was officially launched July 13, with Lufthansa announcing a letter-of-interest for 30 orders and 30 options. The manufacturer had earlier signaled it wanted 50-100 orders from a couple of major customers before committing to the launch. Lufthansa’s tentative orders fall short of this target, although Bombardier appears to be almost ready to reveal other buyers.
Middle Eastern airlines dominated the headlines for Airbus and Boeing during the first day of the Farnborough Airshow, with just two carriers accounting for a staggering 154 new orders. Etihad ordered 100 aircraft, split between Boeing and Airbus. The Airbus A380 featured in this order, and the competing A350 and Boeing 787 models comprised more than half the total. Meanwhile, low-cost startup FlyDubai ordered 54 737-800s, which will let the airline begin operations in mid-2009. An order for eight A330-300s was announced by Saudi Arabian.
