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.
Alaska Air Group said it managed to repurchase about 10% of the company’s outstanding stock during its $100 million buyback program. The company bought 4,113,782 shares at an average price of $24.31 per share.
Alaska Airlines saw a healthy load factor gain of 2.6 points to 73.3% in February. The 13.5% traffic increase outweighed a 9.4% capacity hike. Meanwhile, Horizon Air saw traffic climb 4.7% on a 1.3% Capacity increase, resulting in load factor improving 2.3 points to 71.1%.
A “twofold breakdown” – at Southwest and FAA – led to the agency’s $10.2 million civil penalty against the carrier, and FAA is undertaking damage control to make sure the lapses do not compromise voluntary disclosure programs, says FAA (DAILY, March 7).
