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.
Industry veteran and ATA founder George Mikelsons last week announced his retirement as the CEO of ATA Holdings, handing the reins to John Denison, who has headed the airline subsidiary of ATA Holdings for less than six months.
Southwest is changing its frequent flyer program to give customers extra flexibility when redeeming awards, although it will also introduce limits on seat numbers. Effective this week, the carrier will allow members of its Rapid Rewards frequent flyer program 24 months to earn miles, instead of the current 12. From Feb. 10, 2006, all blackout dates will be eliminated. The airline said surveys have shown that these are the changes customers most want to see.
FAA scheduled another meeting tomorrow with the chief pilots from airlines that fly into Boston Logan, part of the agency's efforts to address the high number of runway incursions at the airport this year. The meeting will focus on the role of pilot deviations in runway incursions and development of solutions. While incursions have generally been lower in fiscal 2005, they increased at Logan. There have been 12 so far this year, compared with just one in FY2004. At least one of these incursions has been in the serious category.
