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.
China Eastern Airlines reports a CNY586 million (US$85 million) profit for 2007, compared with a CNY2.99 billion loss the previous year, partly thanks to the appreciation of the yuan against the U.S. dollar, which is cutting its financing costs. Revenue grew powerfully, as is usual for a Chinese airline. The company’s operating revenue was CNY43.53 billion, up 14% from 2006.
Chinese airlines’ battle against pilot attrition and wage rises has escalated, with Shanghai Airlines suing nine pilots for US$5 million in compensation because they want to leave the company. China Eastern, another Shanghai-based airline, suffered from pilots turning around aircraft and returning to their departure fields on dubious grounds of bad weather.
