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.
Kazuki Shiibashi and Bradley Perrett (Tokyo and Beijing)
U.S. refusal to supply Lockheed Martin F-22s for Japan’s current fighter requirement has prompted Tokyo’s defense ministry to propose a stealth technology demonstrator, ensuring it will be more independent of Washington in future programs.
Airbus has formally rejected a bid by Chinese aerospace group Avic I to buy the six plants the European aircraft maker has put up for sale. Li Yuhai, Avic I's deputy general manager, tells the newspaper China Business News that the bid was rejected because it was late. Acceptance never seemed likely, however. Buying the six plants would have fitted perfectly with Chinese industry's plans to adopt western know-how and emerge as a competitor in building large commercial aircraft next decade -- and that's exactly why Airbus was always expected to reject it.
Qantas will fit only 450 seats in its 20 Airbus A380s, partly because it will follow the international trend of introducing a premium economy class. The carrier says its A380s will have 14 seats in the first-class cabin, 72 in business class, 32 in premium economy and 332 in economy.
