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 first Airbus A330-300 flight control system failure in October 2008 took Australian investigators by surprise. The second, on Dec. 7, is intensifying concerns about potential risks lurking in cockpit automation designed to enhance air safety. Both events involved Qantas Airbus A330-300s flying the same Perth-Singapore route — and both are under investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Board (ATSB).
Thai Airways International will ask Airbus to delay delivery of six A330s that the airline has ordered. The manufacturer has already agreed to delayed payment.
China forecasts its airlines will carry 11% more passengers this year than in 2008, implying faster growth than has been seen over the past 12 months but still less than rates of around 15% earlier in the decade. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) is also making new efforts to support carriers by dropping some airport fees and allowing new high-frequency services. And it is again urging them to defer delivery of aircraft they had planned to receive this year.
