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.
Major U.S. airlines are looking at everything from selling off regional subsidiaries and frequent-flier programs to investing more in non-core units in a search for new revenue streams in an uncertain cost environment. The four majors that released third-quarter financials last week—American, Continental, Delta and Southwest—were successful in increasing profits by fairly wide margins, as well as upping operating revenues, over third-quarter 2006. Delta, for example, hit a new company record for any quarter with its $5.2 billion in operating revenues.
Continental CEO Larry Kellner yesterday stressed that the airline is seeing no slackening of demand for the fourth quarter despite a gloomy outlook for the wider economy from some analysts.
American, reporting strong profit growth and a positive outlook for passenger demand, is still having trouble keeping overall costs under control, and it sees a return to fuel cost increases in the fourth quarter.
