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.
Singapore Airlines says it may defer Airbus A380 deliveries, although no such decision has been made. “We do not rule out the possibility of deferring future deliveries as we consider the options for our fleet,” says a representative. “If the need to defer aircraft delivery arises, we will work together with Airbus on this. No decision has been taken at this time.” The airline has six A380s and 13 on order, of which four are due to arrive this year.
BEIJING Chinese officials are dropping more hints that they are about to announce an aircraft carrier program. Defense Minister Liang Guanglie tells his Japanese counterpart, Yasukazu Hamada, that “China cannot be without an aircraft carrier forever. China’s navy is now rather weak.” Earlier this month, Adm. Hu Yanlin told the China Daily that “China has the capability to build aircraft carriers and should do so.” They are “very necessary,” he said.
More state money is pouring into Shanghai Airlines, China’s unprofitable and fifth-largest airline. Bank of China has given the airline an 8 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) line of credit. The loan follows shareholder approval of 1 billion yuan in new equity capital, the provision of which has presumably justified the increase in debt funding.
