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.
Slowing traffic growth in the last quarter of 2005 caused Eurocontrol to reduce its traffic growth estimates slightly for 2005 and 2006, but stronger growth is forecast to return in 2007, the agency said in its latest forecast. Using data through the end of November, Eurocontrol estimates that flight numbers grew 4.1% in 2005, and slower growth of 2.3%-3.9% is expected for 2006, with a growth level around 3.1% considered most likely. If oil prices don't increase much, flight growth will rebound to about 3.5% in 2007, Eurocontrol said.
China's Air Traffic Management Bureau has completed the transition to full operational use of new Thales air traffic control systems for some of China's largest cities. The North East and South Area Control Center contract, awarded to Thales in 2001, required the installation of Thales' Eurocat systems in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The last of the systems was commissioned at Guangzhou in November, and the Shanghai system was completed last May. The Beijing system became fully operational in December 2004. All were finished on time.
Contract negotiations between FAA and its systems technicians are scheduled to begin next month, following an arbitrator's ruling in FAA's favor that set a timeframe for the contract talks. The current contract between FAA and the Professional Airways Systems Specialists union expired last July, but no new negotiations have occurred because the agency and the union have been arguing over the timetable. While FAA wanted an advance schedule and "a reasonable timeframe to complete negotiations," it said PASS argued for an open-ended timeframe.
