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.
Air China posted a 2.88 billion yuan (US$422 million) profit for the first half of the year, supported by 1.45 billion yuan in gains from fuel hedging. The company dropped its forecast for full-year passenger numbers to 39.7 million from 40.1 million, and cargo to 967,000 tons from 1.01 million tons. Sales for the first half were down 12.7%. Profit was 2.5 times as high as that of a year earlier.
Faulty fairing separation caused the failure of South Korea’s first attempt at launching a satellite, officials say. Another attempt is planned for April, using a rocket of the same KSLV-1 design. The Russian-supplied first stage of the KSLV-1 appears to have worked flawlessly, but one of two fairings enclosing the satellite atop the South Korean second stage failed to drop off. The mass of that fairing, greater than that of the 100 kg. satellite, upset the stabilization and navigation systems.
Asia/Pacific budget airline group Jetstar has declared China as a focus for its growth plans. The Singaporean member of the Jetstar group, Jetstar Asia, will fly between Singapore and Haikou, capital of the Chinese island province Hainan, four times a week. “Mainland China has immense potential for Jetstar’s low fares offering and the broader Jetstar Group network connections,” says Jetstar Asia CEO Chong Phit Lian.
