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.
So far, not so bad. The Comac C919, the single most important program in the great array of China's civil aircraft plans, has used up all of the slack in its schedule. The manufacturer is, by numerous accounts, suffering from at least as much bureaucratic caution as would be expected of a Chinese Communist organization executing a high-priority political project. And the aircraft, according to some industry executives, is likely to miss its target for a first flight in late 2014.
Chinese airlines operate 47 flights a day between Beijing and Shanghai, half with widebody aircraft, mainly Airbus A330s. There can be little question of putting more narrowbodies on the route; its congestion and delays are already notorious. So the future must bring increased twin-aisle capacity.
Arguing that civil aviation promotes economic growth, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) is defending its policy of building airports before air traffic demand justifies them. As a developing country, China must maintain its policy of building civil aviation infrastructure in advance of requirements, CAAC Director-General Li Jiaxiang says in state media reports.
