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.
Continental plans to launch daily nonstop service in May from Newark to Barcelona, which the airline says will be the only year-round nonstop flight to Barcelona from the U.S. Other U.S. carriers serve Barcelona, but only during the summer. US Airways this year began a seasonal Philadelphia-Barcelona nonstop daily flight, operating from May to October. Delta also flies to Barcelona seasonally from Atlanta and New York Kennedy. Continental already serves Madrid with a daily nonstop flight from Newark.
FedEx Corp. this week reported a 3% profit increase for the quarter ending Aug. 31, but the company's Express segment saw its operating profit drop 8% due to start-up costs for new international flights and a one-time charge relating to facility leases. Overall, the company saw its net profit increase from $330 million to $339 million, with revenue growing 10% to $7.7 billion. FedEx raised its earnings guidance slightly for the full fiscal year, despite some analyst predictions that it would lower guidance.
JP Morgan yesterday boosted its rating of Southwest -- mainly because of its struggling competitors -- but downgraded Continental due to possible liquidity problems next year.
