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.
Gerald Grinstein was the right man at the right time for Delta Air Lines, taking over as CEO when the carrier was foundering and leading it through a painful—but ultimately successful—recovery.
American yesterday reported that its 2007 capacity was down by about 2% across the board, although December capacity fell by less than 1% thanks to an increase in international flying. Full-year capacity was down 2.3%, with domestic decreasing 2.6% and international 2%. Traffic dropped 0.7% for 2007, with domestic down 1.3% and international rising by 0.4%. This translated to an overall load factor growth of 1.4 percentage points to 81.5%, with domestic up 1.1 points to 82.8% and international climbing 1.9 points to 79.2%.
Continental is likely to “roughly breakeven” in the fourth quarter, but it could be the only legacy carrier to do so, according to JP Morgan analyst Jamie Baker. The industry could post a combined operating loss of $275 million in the fourth quarter – not too surprising considering the industry has recorded a loss in about half of the last 38 fourth quarters, Baker notes.
