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 reported its first operational data under new CEO Willie Walsh, and with a September load boost, the carrier managed to increase its load factor for the latest quarter by 1.1 percentage points.
A healthy gain in September loads helped Southwest's third-quarter load factor improve 2.2 percentage points to 74.9%, reversing a second-quarter decline. Loads increased 4.2 points to 67.4% in September, following a gain of one point in August and 1.7 points in July. In the second quarter, the airline's load factor dropped 3.8 points to 72.5% after three consecutive months of falling loads. This drop was offset by Southwest's third-quarter gain, and load factor was flat at 71.1% for the year to the end of September.
Japan's JAL Group yesterday announced that it will fold its domestic subsidiary into its international subsidiary on Oct. 1, 2006, which will complete the integration of its business units that began when Japan Airlines and Japan Air Systems merged in 2004.
