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.
Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp., the builder of Japan’s new regional jet, will raise JPY67 billion (US$640 million) in capital from parent Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Toyota Motor, Sumitomo and Mitsui & Co. Mitsubishi Heavy’s share in the business will fall to 67.5% from the current 100%. The aircraft company and its Mitsubishi Regional Jet were launched on April 1.
Jetstar Asia, the Singaporean offshoot of Qantas’s budget carrier, is negotiating to buy a stake in Taiwan’s bankrupt Far Eastern Air Transport, according to a Taipei press report. Such an investment would be the next move in the Asia-Pacific budget airlines’ maneuvering for strings of franchisees based across the region. The latest such step was Qantas’s agreement this month to turn Vietnam’s Pacific Airlines into a Jetstar-branded carrier, replicating the operations and service of the Australian budget airline.
Shanghai Airlines has become the only listed Chinese airline to post a loss for 2007. The company, which analysts say is a ripe takeover target because of its strong position in Shanghai and weakness elsewhere, lost a net CNY497 million (US$71 million) last year, compared with a profit of CNY82.2 million in 2006. The loss occurred despite the strong growth in Chinese aviation demand of around 15% last year. Shanghai Airlines itself enjoyed revenue growth of 23%, but suffered even faster cost growth even though its aircraft flew with fuller cabins.
