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.
The aircraft leasing division of CIT Group yesterday ordered five Airbus A350s, becoming the second lessor to commit to this aircraft, and also placed an order for 24 A320 family aircraft. With the CIT order, Airbus has commitments for 130 A350s from eight customers. Airbus Chief Commercial Officer John Leahy predicted the company will sell close to 200 A350s by the end of the year (DAILY, May 19). Airbus is expected to launch the A350 program officially next month.
Mexican low-cost carrier Avolar has signed a five-year maintenance deal with Global Aviation Solutions' subsidiary Hamilton Aerospace Technologies, which will open a second maintenance facility in Tijuana to accommodate the new work.
Pratt & Whitney said this week that Chilean carrier LAN will be the launch customer for its redesigned PW6000 engine, which LAN will use for an order of 15 Airbus A318s due for delivery beginning in 2007. The PW6000 was intended to be the launch engine for the A318 in 2002, but because the engine did not meet fuel burn targets, P&W decided to redesign the engine with German-based MTU (DAILY, Aug. 30, 2002). A318 launch customer Frontier used CFM56 engines instead.
