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.
Following a record 2005 with 4.5% traffic growth, Europe will see a slightly slower average traffic growth rate of 3% this year, Eurocontrol said yesterday. Average daily passenger totals will top 2.5 million passengers this summer, compared with about 2 million a day in 2005. "While higher ticket prices may depress demand, [the traffic increase] will be driven by growth of low-cost carriers, expansion of the Turkish market and the development of the East European economy," said Eurocontrol.
FAA Administrator Marion Blakey yesterday named David Bowen, an experienced information technology executive from the health care industry, as the agency's new chief information officer. Bowen replaces Daniel Mehan, who retired from FAA in September. Mehan will join Blakey's senior management team as principal adviser on IT issues "and will direct the agency's overall strategic IT planning and [FAA's] $2 billion budget to support critical administrative, business and operational needs."
World Airways pilots say that although no new negotiations have been scheduled, they are still willing to talk to management about a contract deal after the parties were officially released from mediation. The pilots, represented by the Teamsters union, and the airline were released by the National Mediation Board on Dec. 28, which triggered a 30-day, cooling-off period. The Teamsters said they are "ready and willing" to talk, but said the carrier "must come to the table to truly negotiate, not with a take-it-or-leave-it attitude."
