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.
American calculates the MD-80 inspection cancellations contributed to a 4.3% cut in mainline capacity in April. The carrier’s mainline traffic was down 6.6% for the month, and load factor dropped two points to 80.1%. Domestic mainline traffic declined 8.4% on a 5.9% capacity cut, resulting in load factor falling 2.3 points to 82.2%. International traffic was down 3.1% on a 1.5% capacity decrease.
Negotiations for the second stage of the U.S./European Union open-skies agreement would be an “excellent opportunity” to discuss aviation’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, says FAA official Dan Elwell at a hearing of the House aviation subcommittee. However, EU Ambassador John Bruton is skeptical and tells The DAILY the EU has so far “not been very satisfied” with U.S. attitudes toward airline ownership and control and the environment. During the hearing, Bruton and Rep.
Alaska Airlines kept its load factor for April stable at 76.9%, matching a 3.4% traffic growth with the same capacity increase. For the year through the end of April, traffic rose 9.2% on a 6% capacity hike, resulting in load factor growing 2.2 points to 75%. Meanwhile, Horizon saw traffic decrease 6.9% in April, with capacity dropping 3.8% and load factor falling 2.3 points to 69.2%.
