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.
The Japanese Defense Ministry probably will delay its order for fighters under the F-X program until at least the fiscal year beginning April 1, 2011, a move that may lift Lockheed Martin’s chances of winning the competition. The delay minimizes one of the chief advantages of competitors over the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II — their earlier availability. By delaying its order the ministry is also giving the U.S. more time to change its mind regarding its ban on exporting Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptors.
China is handing a 50% market share in its largest city to China Eastern by ordering the ailing carrier to swallow hometown rival Shanghai Airlines. China Eastern will become about equal to Air China as the country’s second-largest airline in terms of passenger traffic and about equal to China Southern as the largest in terms of fleet size.
Thai Airways is signaling that it does not want to take delivery of the six Airbus A380s it has on order.” “It is not economically viable to have and deploy this aircraft in our network,” says Thai Airways Chairman Wallop Bhukkanasut. Thai has been undertaking a review of the A380 order (DAILY, June 9).” In comments to the Bangkok Post, Wallop does not clearly say that the airline will cancel its A380s, but his comments leave no room to doubt that the company does not want them.
