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.
Southwest yesterday reported a load factor drop of 2.6 percentage points in June, the third consecutive month the airline has seen its load factor decline.
Continental reported better-than-expected performance numbers for June, with mainline and system unit revenue both increasing 6%-7%. The June numbers follow a strong performance in May, when consolidated unit revenue increased 9%. The June RASM growth beat estimates of Merrill Lynch analyst Michael Linenberg, who predicted a 4%-5% increase. The growth was driven mainly by better yields, he said. He estimates yields were up 6% for the month, which would be the airline's "best yield performance in two-and-a-half years."
High flight delays in the U.S. on Friday meant a rough start to the Fourth of July holiday weekend, but the number of late flights dropped through the rest of the weekend, FAA said yesterday. There were 3,052 delays Friday, while there were less than 500 on both Saturday and Sunday. Monday had 1,268 delays, and the daily average for the weekend was 1,273, which is below the daily average for June. Despite a lot delays during the last four days of June, the daily average for the month dropped 6% to 1,629.
