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' flight schedule last week bounced back much faster than the airline expected following Thursday's bomb scare, and the security delays that bedeviled U.S. airports had subsided to normal levels by Friday morning. BA operated 83% of its London Heathrow-based European and domestic flights Friday, and 81% of its international flights. On Thursday the carrier had warned passengers that only 60% of its short-haul flights would be operating out of Heathrow Friday, and 75% of its international flights.
ABX saw its net profit and revenue drop in the second quarter due mainly to the loss of DHL line-haul arrangements, but ABX should regain some of the lost revenue through two new contracts it won from the U.S. Postal Service. Net profit fell by $300,000 to $6.5 million, and revenue was down $47.7 million to $303.6 million. The truck line-haul business contributed only $17.5 million in the second quarter, down from $72.2 million last year.
The discovery of an alleged terrorist plot caused global disruption of air travel yesterday, with U.K. airports experiencing the most chaos but U.S. airports also seeing massive security delays. Hundreds of flights were canceled by U.K. carriers, and those flights that did take off were delayed by hours due to airport congestion and delays in passenger list screening. The Transportation Security Administration imposed additional airport gate searches that will be extended to other airports today.
