Industrial Program To Launch Next Spring

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has thrown its hat in the jet manufacturing ring, by marketing a new family of 70-90 passenger regional jets.

MHI announced on October 9 it would launch its version of a twin engined RJ called the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) with a marketing campaign and an industrial program in the spring next year, according to the Financial Times. As ANN reported, the company has worked on-and-off on the MRJ program for several years.

The company says it has formally offered its MRJ to airlines worldwide, in hopes of delivering in five years. The development of the MHI-built jet will make the MRJ a breakthrough as the first commercial passenger jet designed and built in Japan.

MHI, the manufacturer of the YS-11 turboprop, had long been looking for opportunities to develop commercial jets since it discontinued that twin engine airliner in 1973, as reported in the Financial Times.

The launch of the MRJ will adopt a new Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan, which it hopes will reduce fuel burn and emissions, while cutting engine noise and maintenance costs. A flight test program of the jet propulsion engine will begin next year after a full scale ground demonstration that is planned sometime before the end of this year. US engine maker Pratt & Whitney has spent 20 years and $1 billion developing the geared turbofan.

Using a slogan of "Flying into the Future", the entry of the Japanese into the commercial jet manufacturing business will pitt them against the global leaders in the regional jet sector of passenger jets with 100 seats or less.

Citing a demand of 5,000 aircraft forecast to fill the RJ class in the next 20-years, MHI hopes to enter service of the MRJ by 2013, competing with Canada's Bombardier and Embraer of Brazil. The RJ market is growing with interest, as both Russian and the Chinese are also developing regional jests to compete with those established companies.

FMI: www.mrj-japan.com/