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 FAA’s Fiscal 2011 budget request sends the strongest signal yet that the Obama administration is dropping plans to introduce aviation user fees, at least for now. Aviation policymakers and industry groups were watching carefully for any user-fee language, so its omission was a major talking point. Even though turning to user fees could have relieved some pressure on the federal budget, it appears that the administration decided this was one battle it did not want to fight.
Japan Airlines yesterday gave additional details on a wave of service cuts and realignments as part of its reorganization efforts. The route changes are included in JAL’s operational plan for the six months through Sept. 30, although some have already been announced. While there were some international moves, the bulk of the network changes is being made to the domestic operation. Twelve domestic routes will be cut, resulting in the closure of three airport offices. Shizuoka will be closed on April 1, and Kobe and Matsumoto on June 1.
FAA said it will refocus its NextGen efforts to better align with the mid-term priorities identified by a sweeping review last year. In a detailed response, the agency generally concurred with the recommendations outlined by the government-industry NextGen task force in September. Administrator Randy Babbitt said the task force findings will be incorporated into the latest NextGen implementation plan, which will be released in early March. “I believe the FAA’s dedication to NextGen is evident” in the response to the task force, Babbitt said.
