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.
Finnair yesterday became the first of Airbus' customers to confirm its order for the relaunched A350 aircraft, as part of a new order package that also includes A330s or A340s. The airline previously ordered nine A350s, and the new agreement boosts this number to 11. They will be delivered beginning in 2014. Finnair has been renegotiating its Airbus order package, and the deal was expected to include extra aircraft to fill Finnair's growth requirements until the rescheduled A350 deliveries (DAILY, March 5).
FAA plans to increase its capital spending on modernization efforts by more than $1 billion a year by fiscal 2012, with the largest increase -- nearly $500 million -- slated for FY2009.
The LAN Airlines group plans to triple a planned share issue in order to fund fleet expansion and a stock option plan for employees. The company's board of directors approved a capital increase of more than 22 million ordinary shares. This replaces the earlier plan -- announced in January -- to increase shares by 7.5 million. The latest increase proposal will be voted on at an April 5 shareholders meeting.
