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.
Qantas and Continental last week said Boeing’s 787 delay will cause some disruption to their expansion strategies, and they are both developing contingency plans to cover for the later entry of 787s to their fleets. Continental said it is apparent it will not be receiving its first 787 in March of 2009 as scheduled, and it does not know when the new delivery date is. The carrier was expecting three 787s to be delivered in 2009. Boeing last week admitted it will have to delay 787 deliveries due to production headaches (DAILY, Jan.17).
American Airlines’ first quarterly loss since early 2006 could signal that the remarkable financial recovery of the U.S. major carriers is running out of gas. More bad news could be around the corner—while demand for air travel is holding up for now, analysts believe the U.S. economic slowdown must eventually hurt airline bookings.
Alaska Airlines this week revealed plans to add frequencies on some of its most popular California routes, although the carrier also said it will cut its Oakland-Orange County flights. Altogether, Alaska will add four new frequencies to its California flights from Seattle, beginning April 27, and another in June. The Oakland-Orange County route that will be dropped currently has five daily flights, using a mix of Boeing 737s. This capacity will be used for the new flights.
