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.
Air New Zealand says the world’s first scheduled Boeing 787-9 route will be between its Auckland Airport hub and Perth Airport in western Australian, with the aircraft taking over that flight from Oct. 15, 2014. The carrier is the launch customer for the -9 version of the 787, and the first aircraft is expected to be delivered in July. Before it is assigned to the Perth service, it will be used on some one-off flights on various routes to Australia, an airline spokeswoman tells Aviation Week. These flights, however, will not be advertised as 787 flights.
Qantas engineers’ union claims that one of the carrier’s two heavy maintenance bases is being stretched to meet its scheduled workload, and that some of its work should be allocated to the other base that Qantas is threatening to close. The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) yesterday released a plan showing what aircraft could be sent to the Avalon Airport base, near Melbourne. The future of this facility is under review, as the Boeing 747 work it primarily handles is shrinking as the airline’s 747 fleet is phased out.
Japan Airlines (JAL) says it is considering further action after Japan’s aviation regulator refused the carrier’s request to revise a slot award decision at Tokyo Haneda Airport that favored rival All Nippon Airways (ANA). JAL had requested that Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT) reverse the Oct. 2 ruling that gave ANA a greater share of new slots at Haneda, which is congested. However, an official from the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau—the unit of the ministry which deals with aviation—says JAL’s appeal was rejected on Nov. 5.
