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, China’s second-largest airline, aims to carry 40.06 million passengers this year, 15% more than in 2007. The figure, high by the standards of most airlines, is only in line with recent growth rates in Chinese commercial aviation. Shenzhen Airlines, a second-tier carrier, aims to have 100 aircraft in its fleet by the end of the year, three times as many as at the end of 2005 and implying an annual fleet growth rate of 44%. Air China is forecasting a load factor of 69.1% for 2008.
China Eastern Airlines reports a CNY586 million (US$85 million) profit for 2007, compared with a CNY2.99 billion loss the previous year, partly thanks to the appreciation of the yuan against the U.S. dollar, which is cutting its financing costs. Revenue grew powerfully, as is usual for a Chinese airline. The company’s operating revenue was CNY43.53 billion, up 14% from 2006.
