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.
FAA is calling for its controllers union to increase the pace of contract talks so they can be finished by Christmas, but the union says the agency should move more quickly to the major contract issues if it wants to finish the talks sooner. Joe Miniace, the agency's labor relations head, wrote to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association proposing that the negotiation sessions be increased to five days a week, every week. The agency also proposes that all the talks be held in Washington, instead of holding some sessions in other cities.
Northwest plans to cut up to 80 of its older aircraft from the fleet as one of the first moves in bankruptcy toward its goal of a more streamlined operation. One group of 13 stored aircraft will be dropped immediately, Northwest said in a bankruptcy court filing. These aircraft are either leased or subject to debt payments, and Northwest will reject or abandon the deals. The airline also identified a group of 67 older aircraft, most of them still in service, that it is considering eliminating. All are also subject to lease or debt.
National Transportation Safety Board Acting Chairman Mark Rosenker said this week that an air traffic control system used at many airports to prevent runway incursions is inadequate, but FAA said the system has helped reduce incursions.
