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.
Malaysian Airline System has ordered 35 Boeing 737-800s and taken options on 20 more in a long-awaited deal to overhaul its narrowbody fleet, which is based on 737-400s. Deliveries will begin from September 2010, and the company will have the choice of switching to the 737-900ER version, of which a nearby rival, Indonesia’s Lion Air, has ordered 178.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Pratt & Whitney have launched the MRJ regional jet and its GTF geared turbofan engine, marking a renewed Japanese attempt to break into commercial aircraft and the arrival of a potentially revolutionary engine. First delivery is planned in 2013, as previously stated by All Nippon when it ordered the 90-seat MRJ90 version of the aircraft, although the airline thinks it might get its first unit in early 2014. A shorter version with about 70 seats, the MRJ70, is also offered.
China’s Avic 1 ARJ21 regional jet has joined the crowd of delayed commercial aircraft projects, with its first flight deferred from this month, the scheduled period, to September. Supplier delays are to blame, the company says, without naming the responsible companies.
