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.
BEIJING — China is accelerating reform of its military aircraft sector by bringing forward the establishment of a company that will be its national defense champion. Government and industry leaders have dropped plans to initially restrict the new business — a maker of fighters, trainers, drones and missiles — to the status of a division of national aeronautics conglomerate Avic. Instead, the organization has now been set up as a company under the name Avic Defence.
AirAsia and Air AsiaX, Southeast Asia’s largest budget carrier, is looking to launch about 10 new routes within India and to the U.S. by yearend or early 2010. AirAsiaX, an affiliate of Air Asia and the Virgin group, is expected to fly to Los Angeles or New York, Senthil Balan, head of network management, told The DAILY at Routes Asia, a platform for new route opportunities in Hyderabad. “We have two options — fly direct to Los Angeles and New York or via Taipei and the Middle East, or Scandanavia, respectively,” said Senthil.
Singapore state investment fund Temasek is selling out of Jetstar Asia and Valuair, budget airline partners it has owned in association with Qantas. The Australian carrier will now hold 49% of the airlines, while Singaporean citizen Dennis Choo owns the rest, ensuring that the carriers retain Singaporean nationality under international air traffic agreements.
