Bradley Perrett covered China, Japan, South Korea and Australia. He is a Mandarin-speaking Australian.
Before joining Aviation Week in 2006 he was a macroeconomics, politics and aerospace journalist with Reuters. Perrett holds a bachelor’s degree in law from Macquarie University, Sydney. He left Aviation Week in 2020.
Cash-strapped Japan Airlines, looking beyond Delta for capital, is also considering investments from Air France-KLM, American, travel agencies, trading groups, business partners and financial investors. But a tie-up with Delta, which would invest ¥50 billion (US$551.6 million), is being pushed for by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Delta has been negotiating with JAL for several weeks.
Mitsubishi Aircraft will build aluminum wing boxes for its MRJ regional jet, backing away from the ambitious plan to use composites. The company, an offshoot of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, has also announced a three-month delay to the program. Composites turned out to save much less weight than expected, says Mitsubishi, adding that a metal structure will make it easier to adapt the wing to different versions of the aircraft. A third version could join the model line-up; a 100-seat stretch of the MRJ is being considered.
