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 traffic control providers from Iceland and Denmark are reporting new progress in deploying automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) networks that will provide coverage across large areas of the North Atlantic. Isavia has successfully completed key tests on a new ADS-B system in Iceland, while Denmark’s Naviair is close to awarding a contract for networks in Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
Hawaiian Airlines says that while demand in its core Hawaii-West Coast markets remains strong, a surge in capacity from its competitors on these routes is hurting yields. Although Hawaiian managed to increase its profit in the third quarter and boost operating margins, load factor fell 1.9 percentage points year-on-year to 83.3%, passenger unit revenue was down 5.7% and yield dropped 3.6%. Hawaiian CEO Mark Dunkerley says these declines were worse than expected mainly due to the hike in overall capacity on key routes to the West Coast.
The cutthroat competition in the Australian long-haul market is just as prevalent in the regulatory arena, as several airlines are proving with their vociferous opposition to a partnership proposed by Qantas and Emirates. While it would be a major surprise if permission were not granted by Australian regulators, the heated debate underlines how high the stakes are—not only for Qantas and Emirates, but for all of the international carriers serving this region.
