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.
Boeing yesterday announced two significant orders for its 787 program, with Continental adding five aircraft to its order, and Kuwaiti leasing company ALAFCO doubling an existing order of six. Continental increased its 787 firm orders from 20 to 25 aircraft. The new orders are all for the 787-9, and the airline also converted other 12 existing 787-8 orders to the -9. Continental now has 17 -9s and eight -8s on order.
JAL's international load factor is up by just over one percentage point as the carrier nears the end of its fiscal year, with capacity dropping much faster than traffic. The airline's international load factor through January was 70.7%, compared with 69.4% for the previous full fiscal year. JAL's FY2006 runs through the end of March. Traffic is down 7.2% for the year to Jan. 31, and capacity is 10% lower. January traffic was 10.2% lower, capacity was cut by 5.9%, and load factor was 68.4%. -AS
Leading House Democrats are trying to get an amendment attached to an emergency spending bill that would reopen the controller contract issue and force FAA to return to the bargaining table.
