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.
Continental’s days in the SkyTeam alliance could be numbered as British Airways and American this week confirmed they are in code-share talks with the carrier. BA said it is “exploring opportunities for cooperation” with Continental and American, while American made a similar statement to its employees. While it has said it is not interested in a merger at this time, Continental has repeatedly stated it is reviewing its status in the SkyTeam alliance, and is considering whether another alliance would be a better fit.
Northwest and Delta are moving to combine some employee benefits even before the airlines’ merger receives the approval of regulators. From May 6, the airlines plan to give eligible employees and retirees reciprocal access to flight benefits on both networks. Delta CEO Richard Anderson claims such a move “has never been undertaken this quickly following the announcement of a major airline merger.”
Continental executives now say they won’t consider a merger with another airline, less than two weeks after hinting strongly they were investigating such a link-up.
