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.
Korean Air reported markedly improved first-quarter numbers in another sign of improving times for Asian commercial air transport. The South Korean carrier says operating profit in the three months to March 31 jumped 33.3 times to 220.2 billion won ($198.2 million), while operating revenue hit 2.6 trillion won ($2.3 billion), up 14.8% on a year earlier. Income before tax came to 226.9 billion won ($204.2 million), reversing a 673.9 billion won loss in the first quarter last year.
The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam will forbid the country’s airlines from using foreign brands, a policy that undercuts the franchising strategy of two outside carriers with local affiliates, Jetstar and AirAsia. The deputy head of the administration, Lai Xuan Thanh, stresses that foreigners cannot directly control business plans, revenues or profits of Vietnamese airlines, says Thanh Nien News.
China Southern forecasts an improved operating performance after reporting a net profit of 330 million yuan (US$48 million) for 2009, reversing a 4.8 billion yuan loss a year earlier. Operating income for China’s biggest airline at the same time amounted to 1.44 billion yuan, again a reversal on the 5.6 billion yuan loss reported in 2008. Revenue fell less than 1% to 54.8 billion yuan.
