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.
Virgin Australia is injecting more widebody aircraft into its domestic transcontinental routes, as it continues to battle Qantas in this crucial market. The carrier gradually is up-gauging services between eastern cities and Perth from Boeing 737-800s to Airbus A330-200s. On Sept. 21 Virgin Australia is set to begin flying its fifth A330, which will allow it to have widebody service on all of its five daily flights from Melbourne to Perth.
Europe's aerospace industry is making progress in unraveling the complexities of time-based flight profiles, which will be essential components of the next-generation air traffic management network. Long-range ATM plans call for aircraft to fly precise four-dimensional (4D) trajectories, with time being the fourth dimension. While it will be at least six years before 4D procedures could be deployed in the European aviation system, work is underway to advance the concept and address the range of issues that must be solved before its operational debut.