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.
A major development project is underway at Honolulu International Airport that will add capacity and allow Hawaiian Airlines to dramatically improve the efficiency of its main hub. The multi-phase project involves the construction of new cargo and heavy maintenance facilities for Hawaiian Airlines, with their relocation allowing for taxiways to be widened. This in turn will improve access for larger aircraft to a new passenger terminal that will be built when the other facilities are finished.
The low-cost carrier market in Thailand continues to grow more crowded, with local airline Nok Air and Singapore’s Scoot revealing plans to launch a new Bangkok-based LCC. The airlines have signed a memorandum of understanding to set up a joint venture called NokScoot, which they say will operate widebody aircraft on medium and long-haul international routes. Nok will control a 51% stake, and Scoot will have 49%. The initial investment will be THB 2 billion ($62.3 million).
Deployment of a new satellite-based surveillance network is expected to be complete for the vast majority of U.S. domestic airspace by the end of this year, although some of the more remote ground stations will need to be finished in 2014. Together with contractor Exelis, the FAA is introducing what will be the world’s largest automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B) network. The use of ADS-B “Out” will give controllers more accurate data than provided by radar, which is expected to allow reduced separation in some airspace.
