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.
Continental this week reported an impressive passenger unit revenue gain of 6.5%-7.5% for August, with load factor rising 2.9 points to 85.3%. The gain was even higher for mainline unit revenue, which was up 8%-9%. For both consolidated and mainline unit revenue, the August increases were more than double those in July.
Hong-Kong based Dragonair will join oneworld on Nov. 1, adding a clutch of new Chinese destinations to the alliance. Dragonair serves 19 mainland China destinations, the most of any airline not based there. A dozen of these destinations will be new to Oneworld -- Chongging, Changsha, Chengdu, Fuzhou, Haikou, Kunming, Guilin, Ningbo, Nanjing, Shenyang, Sanya and Wuhan. This will give the alliance 22 mainland China destinations.
Boeing yesterday reported an excellent sales week, making it more likely that the manufacturer will break the 1,000-order mark for the third consecutive year. The company logged 78 new orders for the week ending Sept. 5, giving it a net order total of 841 for the year to date. Included in the total were 55 737s for China Southern, 22 787s for Aeroflot and a single unidentified 777. Boeing also identified Aviation Capital Group as the customer for 15 737 orders already included in the total.
