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 British defense industry, already a major player in Australia, is expanding in the country with a series of acquisitions. BAE Systems will buy Australia's privately owned Tenix Defence, whose businesses include one of Australia's two main naval shipyards. The purchase will double BAE's presence in the country to more than 5,500 employees and annual sales exceeding A$1.2 billion ($1 billion).
Thai Airways will lease 14 Boeing 787s and buy or lease 20 Airbus A321s under plans approved by its board of directors. Management has been authorized to pay a $3 million deposit for the Airbus planes.
The Vietnamese government says it will sell 10% to 20% of Vietnam Airlines to a foreign strategic investor. The state will retain only 70% to 80% of the company, Vietnam’s largest airline, according to a preliminary plan for the privatization, for which no timetable is available. A chunk of stock, apparently 10%, will be sold to public shareholders in an initial public offering. Proceeds of the sale will go to enlarging the company’s capital, rather than being paid to the government.
