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.
Southwest still has a fuel-cost advantage over the rest of the industry, but this advantage is eroding due to a combination of lower fuel prices and expiring fuel hedges, fourth-quarter results reveal. On the same day that American reported a positive turnaround in the fourth quarter, Southwest announced its net profit shrank by nearly 19% to $57 million -- partly due to gains in jet fuel costs as its hedges wind down. However, the airline still boosted its full-year profit to $499 million, up 3.1% from 2005.
American turned in a small fourth-quarter profit to confirm what Wall St. has been predicting for months -- the airline's first profitable full year since 2000. The fourth-quarter net profit of $17 million was a good turnaround from the $600 million loss recorded in the same quarter of 2005. For the full year, American posted a net profit of $231 million, a $1.1 billion improvement from the $857 million net loss in 2005.
By: Adrian Schofield, Aviation Daily One of the features of the post-2001 airline environment in the U.S. has been the blurring of the boundaries between the traditional airline categories, and this trend shows every sign of continuing. Analysis of third-quarter cost data shows that while network carrier costs continue to decline, low-cost carrier costs are creeping upward -- and some LCCs have effectively elevated themselves out of this category entirely.
