Mitsubishi suspends aircraft development

In what is effectively the first aircraft programme to collapse due to the Covid-19 epidemic Mitsubishi (MHI) has suspended its Spacejet programme, once called MRJ.

The aircraft was officially launched at the Paris Air Show in 2008 as a 70-80 seat aircraft with an order from ANA for 25 with a 2013 introduction.  The maiden flight of the MRJ90 took place on 11 November 2015 and four more prototypes followed with one being shown at Farnborough 2018. A new production facility for the aircraft was built at Nagoya.

Earlier in the year Mitsubishi mothballed the test fleet and now says the project is "suspended".  Industry experts say that the possibility of the venture being resurrected is "remote".  The engineering team is being moved on to other developments.

MHI in 2020 bought the support but not manufacturing parts of Bombardier’s CRJ business. In its business outlook, MHI referred to the CRJ maintenance business as resilient.

www.mhi.com

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