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 Fiscal Year 2009 budget resolution passed by the House Budget Committee supports full-funding for FAA’s Airport Improvement Program. House Transportation & Infrastructure Chair James Oberstar (D-Minn.) says the budget rejects the $765 million cut to AIP proposed by the Administration, and provides $3.9 billion for AIP in FY2009, increasing to $4.1 billion in 2011.
Defective fan blades on General Electric CF34-3B1 engines should be taken out of service before another in-flight fire or engine failure occurs, according to the NTSB. In its recommendation, the safety board cites two previous fan blade failures, both involving Bombardier CRJ-200s. One was on an Air Nostrum flight in 2006, the other on an Atlantic Southeast Airlines flight in 2007.
American once again cut its domestic capacity in February, but overall capacity increased due to a boost in international flying. Consolidated capacity was up 2%, with traffic rising 2.5% and load factor improving by 0.3 points to 76.9%. Domestic traffic fell 0.5% on a 0.2% capacity cut, resulting in load factor dropping 0.3 points to 78.8%. International traffic was up 8.4%, with capacity increasing 6%. International loads gained 1.6 points to 73.6%. American Eagle, meanwhile, saw February traffic drop 2.4% and capacity 1.9%. Load factor sank 0.4 points to 69%.
