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.
Qantas says it has probably breached competition laws in discussing freight charges with other carriers and will make a US$40 million provision for a possible fine by U.S. authorities. The Australian carrier has been cooperating with inquiries into the global price-fixing scandal by regulators from the U.S., the European Union, Australia and elsewhere. British Airways and Korean Air have already been fined for the industry-wide agreement to impose fuel surcharges. [email protected]
The Virgin Group will buy a 20% stake in the company that will operate long-haul budget services under the AirAsia brand and will also support the business in other, unstated ways. Operating company Fly Asian Xpress says it will fly its first long-haul service, probably to the Australian holiday city Gold Coast, in six or seven weeks. The company says it has also secured landing rights at London Stansted Melbourne's secondary airport, Avalon. It plans to spread services across Asia and says Amritsar will be the first in India.
China is making concrete moves toward deregulation of its commercial aviation industry, relaxing rules that protect the main state-backed airlines and creating more opportunities for others. Earlier talk has been backed up with action, with new carriers being allowed on to the country’s premier air route, the one linking Beijing and Shanghai. Hainan Airlines and Shanghai Airlines will now fly between China’s biggest cities alongside the big-three state carriers—China Southern, Air China and China Eastern.
