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.
US Airways Group said its consolidated unit revenue dropped in April and warned that this trend could continue for the rest of this quarter. "As we've seen from other airlines, the passenger [unit revenue] environment has weakened from the rapid growth rate seen in 2006 leading to more difficult year-over-year comparisons, particularly in the second quarter," said US Airways President Scott Kirby. The timing of the Easter holiday also hurt April revenue performance, he said.
Atlas yesterday reported a net profit of $6.2 million for the first quarter, a major achievement compared to the $3.7 million loss the cargo carrier reported for the same period last year. Driving the turnaround were the highest first-quarter revenues in the company's history. The $353.6 million revenue total was up from last year's $332.2 million. CEO William Flynn noted these were "robust results during a traditionally slow period of the year in air cargo demand, as well as a quarter with some sluggishness in key trade lanes."
The U.S. government appears to be backing away from its attempts to pin down Chinese negotiators on a firm timetable for full open skies between the two nations, but in return the U.S. wants to push the Chinese to grant many more flight frequencies.
