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.
The air travel price index, compiled by the U.S. Transportation Dept., increased 7.5% in the third quarter of 2006, reaching the highest level for this quarter since the index was introduced 11 years ago.
British Airways plans to cancel almost half of its flights -- including all Heathrow departures -- on Tuesday and Wednesday after negotiations failed to remove a strike threat by its cabin crews. BA will cancel 1,300 flights of more than 2,500 operated by BA mainline, BA Connect and franchise partner carriers. If just mainline flights are counted, the ratio of canceled flights would be far higher because the strike will not affect BA Connect and franchise flights.
Airbus yesterday announced another launch customer for its A330 Freighter program. Turkish carrier MNG signed a memorandum of understanding to order two A330-200Fs with an option for one more. MNG already operates 10 A300 freighters. The airline wants to expand outside of Europe to Chinese and U.S. cities. It already carries more than 85% of Turkish cargo capacity. The industrial launch of the A330-200F program occurred on Jan. 17. -AS
