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.
Asia/Pacific airlines should not see too much pain from the looming industry downturn if wider economic forecasts are accurate, says the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation. The Asian Development Bank sees solid economic growth in 2008, and the IMF is also upbeat about the region. However, CAPA notes that these assessments could be too optimistic, as load factors in the region are starting to ease.
Northwest — like Delta — recorded a staggering first-quarter net loss yesterday, but in both cases the loss was magnified dramatically by a one-time “goodwill” write-down. Northwest’s net loss was $4.1 billion, although excluding special items the loss was just $191 million. This was still worse than the $73 million profit — minus special items — that Northwest achieved in the same period last year, but was more comparable to the losses posted by its legacy peers during the first quarter of 2008.
United yesterday announced plans to cut its fourth-quarter capacity even further in an effort to reverse its worsening financial losses; the carrier will also reduce employee numbers by about 1,100 this year. During its fourth-quarter earnings call, the airline said it will eliminate 30 aircraft from its domestic mainline fleet after the summer travel season. It is still deciding exactly which aircraft to remove from its fleet, but they will be predominantly its oldest and least fuel-efficient Boeing 737s.
