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.
UPS and DHL both intend to add extra flights in the U.S. during the upcoming holiday peak season, and UPS will lease 10 Boeing 747s, as well as smaller aircraft to temporarily boost its fleet.
UPS predicts it will see very little volume increase during the upcoming peak shipping season compared with last year, although the carrier still plans to add 31 leased aircraft to its fleet to handle the holiday rush. The peak day for the UPS system will be Dec. 19, with an expected 22 million packages handled worldwide. The peak air shipment day will be Dec. 21, when 5.6 million packages will be flown. UPS anticipates adding more than 423 flights per day to its air network during the peak week this year, compared with its normal average of 1,849 flights.
Japan's ANA reported a record US$917.4 million net profit for the six months through Sept. 30, although the total was inflated considerably by the sale of the group's hotel assets in June. Despite the 217% rise in net profit, operating profit dropped 2.5% to US$582.6 million, which the carrier attributed to high oil prices and the loss of hotel income. Revenue climbed 1.4% to US$6.6 billion, which was its largest ever for the six-month period. The hotel business contributed US$260.8 million in revenue for the same period last year.
