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.
Air Canada continued to improve its mainline load factor in March, growing by 2.4 points to an impressive 83.8%. Mainline traffic was up 5%, but the carrier held capacity growth to 2%. Canadian domestic traffic increased 5% on a 0.5% capacity cut, with loads rising 4.4 points to 84.4%. U.S. cross-border traffic rose 1.3% and capacity was up 1.1%. Transatlantic traffic increased 6.6% on a 2.3% capacity climb, and transpacific traffic gained 5%, compared to capacity growth of just 0.1%. Latin American traffic increased 7.8% on a 10.5% capacity hike.
Boeing achieved a staggering 59 new aircraft orders for the week through April 3, boosting its total for the year by more than 50%. The weekly total includes a follow-on order by Japan Airlines for five 787s that was announced Tuesday (DAILY, April 4), with the remainder of the 59 attributed to unidentified customers. Three are for business jet versions of the 737, 24 for standard 737s, nine for 777s and 18 for 787s.
American labor groups are turning up the volume on their protests against executive bonuses, in preparation for the upcoming bonus announcements. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants yesterday sent analysts a study claiming American employee concessions total $6.4 billion since 2003. Flight attendants contribute $340 million of the $1.6 billion annual concessions, the union said.
