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.
An Emirates Airbus A340-500 only barely managed to get airborne after using the full 3,660 meter (12,000 ft.) length of its runway at Melbourne on March 20, in an incident that came perilously close to disaster. The aircraft’s flying condition at the end of its takeoff run was so marginal that 170 meters (660 ft.) past the end of the runway it hit and destroyed lights standing only 70 cm (26 in.) above the ground, Melbourne’s Herald-Sun newspaper reports.
The shareholders of Mitsubishi Aircraft have invested a further ¥30 billion in the company’s MRJ regional jet project, following the original business plan. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries remains the majority owner of the company, but its shareholding has slipped to 64% from 67.5% to make way for three new and unidentified shareholders. All of the new investment is in the form of equity or, in the case of the Development Bank of Japan, preferred equity.
Singapore Technologies Aerospace and partner Xiamen Aviation Industry Co. have broken ground on an engine shop that will join in the increasingly fierce competition to overhaul CFM56 turbofans in the country. The new business, to be known as Statco, will initially support CFM56-5B and CFM56-7B engines for the Airbus A320 family and the current series of Boeing 737s, says ST Aero.
