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.
British Airways yesterday reached a deal with the trustees of its major pension plan that will see the company pay off GBP800 million (US$1.5 billion) of the plan's GBP2.1 billion deficit. BA previously proposed a one-off payment of GBP500 million, but it had hinted that this could be raised to win the approval of the trustees. The agreement doesn't totally cure BA's pension headaches -- the one-off payment is conditional on its unions' accepting changes to pension rules, and BA still has considerable work ahead to achieve this.
The U.K. government must establish a timetable to accelerate the development of new runway procedures and the building of a third runway at London Heathrow Airport, says British Airways CEO Willie Walsh.
Eurocontrol's Maastricht control center recently became one of the first European air traffic control facilities to be certified under the new requirements of the Single European Sky process. The Maastricht Upper Area Control Center handles en route traffic for the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Northwest Germany. The certification was granted after scrutiny by the Netherlands Transport and Water Management Inspectorate. This audit verified that procedures meet European Union standards in several areas.
