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 New Zealand government has renewed its approval of the Air New Zealand-Virgin Australia partnership, essentially affirming the same capacity conditions that the Australian government already has imposed on the two airlines. The New Zealand Ministry of Transport and the Australian competition watchdog authorized the partnership through 2018, which means that it will expire in the same year as the partnership authority granted Emirates Airline and Qantas Airways.
Malaysia-based AirAsia X is making significant progress towards launching an affiliate carrier in Thailand, and has formally established the joint venture that will control the new airline. AirAsia X is the long-haul unit of the AirAsia group, which already has a short-haul joint venture in Thailand. The new long-haul carrier, Thai AirAsia X, is expected to start operations from Bangkok in the first quarter of 2014, an AirAsia X spokeswoman tells Aviation Week. This will be the first AirAsia X affiliate outside Malaysia.
