Geoffrey Thomas (1951-2026)

Veteran aviation reporter Geoffrey Thomas, who served as Aviation Week’s chief contributing editor for the Asia-Pacific in the late 1990s, has died in Perth, Australia, at the age of 74 following complications from heart surgery.

A towering figure, literally, of Australian aviation journalism, Thomas was a prolific writer and commentator who covered the themes of airline history, safety and sustainability.

A flight to New Zealand on a DC-8 in 1968 sparked an interest, some might say obsession, for the Douglas Aircraft Company which, in later years he converted into a life-long career reporting on civil aviation. After early stints in commerce, banking and the airline industry, Thomas made his break into aviation writing as a freelancer for the Perth Sunday Times.

Driven by an insatiable appetite to learn every aspect of the industry he loved, Thomas soon became an internationally respected aerospace writer. He worked for four years from 1996 as Southeast Asia contributing editor for Aviation Week, before joining Air Transport World (ATW) in 2000.

“Geoff was writing for us when economies were bubbling across the Asia-Pacific region—including Australia,” remembers Michael Mecham, who managed Aviation Week’s Asia-Pacific coverage from San Francisco in the late ‘90s. “Airline deregulation was taking hold, Qantas was testing new markets and a new crop of regionals were trying to gain a foothold. So, Geoff, a proud Australian, knew the players and was a dogged correspondent.”

Leaving ATW in 2012, Thomas went on to found Airlineratings.com, an airline safety and performance ranking website which he led for a decade. All the while, Thomas maintained strong links with his homeland, continuing as the Aviation Editor for The West Australian—a role he occupied for 27 years until leaving the newspaper in 2023.

Thomas also co-authored 17 books on aviation, including several with his wife Christine Forbes Smith, and won numerous journalism honors including a 2018 Aerospace Media Awards Lifetime Achievement. In 2020, Thomas was recognized with a Decade of Excellence Award for his coverage of the Malaysia Airlines MH370 disappearance, the investigation of which he worked diligently to keep alive through interviews, stories, TV appearances, and involvement in the MH370 Action Group.

Latterly, Thomas founded and edited 42kft.com, an airline environmental ranking website, and continued to engage with audiences through his own YouTube channel. Always armed with a sense of humor and generous with his time and experience when encouraging younger newcomers to the aviation reporting beat, Thomas’ presence will be missed.