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.
Singapore Airlines continues to reap the benefit of capacity reductions, reporting a strong year-on-year load factor improvement for April. SIA traffic was up 2.9% for the month on a capacity decrease of 4.2%, which resulted in load factor rising 5.4 points to 77.6%. The capacity cuts were due to reductions already in place, as well volcano-related cancellations. The largest load factor growth — 13% — was on routes to the Americas, while routes to and from the Southwest Pacific were the weakest.
Air New Zealand says it will defend the allegations made by Australian regulators that the carrier — among many others — engaged in price fixing on some cargo operations.
Malaysia Airlines reported a second consecutive profitable quarter, as its rebound from the 2009 downturn continues to gather momentum. The carrier managed a group-wide RM310 million ($96.3 million) net profit for the three months ending March 31, which was a dramatic swing from a loss of nearly RM700 million in the same period in 2009. While demand is improving, compensation payments from Airbus for A380 delays played a large role in the carrier’s profit.
