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.
House and Senate lawmakers are beginning their examination of a the controller contract dispute that FAA dumped in their laps this week, and although the National Air Traffic Controllers Association is promising a fierce fight, sources say the union will face an uphill struggle persuading Republican leaders to overturn FAA's contract proposal.
FAA yesterday declared it has reached stalemate with the controllers union after nine months of contract talks, meaning that only congressional action can prevent the agency from imposing its latest contract offer without union agreement.
British Airways said yesterday that capacity and traffic both rose in March, although load factor dropped slightly. Traffic grew 1.8% on a 2.5% capacity hike, and load factor dropped 0.5 points to 75.2%. The carrier said the traffic increase resulted from a 15% boost in premium traffic and a 0.4% decrease in non-premium traffic. The fact that the Easter holiday will fall in April instead of March this year boosted March premium traffic but hurt non-premium traffic. "This effect will reverse next month," BA said.
