The first made in Japan passenger
jet in four decades reaches a development milestone later this week.
A "rolling out" ceremony in
Nagoya, central Japan on Saturday will unveil the long awaited Mitsubishi
Regional Jet, or MRJ, a fuel-efficient lightweight carbon-fiber composite
passenger plane.
Major Japanese machinery maker
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries says the MRJ90 will seat 88 people, while the MRJ70
will seat 76, and the planned MRJ100X will have 100 seats.
The plane is billed as fuel-efficient,
quiet and green, with a comfortable cabin of relatively wide seats and high
ceilings.
The first flight is planned for the
second quarter of next year, with test flights to follow totaling 2,500 hours,
and the first deliveries are set for 2017.
MRJ has received 191 orders, from All
Nippon Airways, Trans State Holdings, SkyWest, Air Mandalay and Eastern Air
Line with 184 additional purchase options.
Japan Airlines announced in August it
will buy 32 of the jets, with deliveries set for 2021, although the final deal
has not yet been inked.
The MRJ is Japan's first nationally
funded, domestically manufactured passenger aircraft since the YS-11, a
turboprop airplane that was discontinued in 1973.
Mitsubishi has struggled to obtain
orders, and initially attracted almost no interest even though it approached
dozens of potential customers.
The regional-jet industry targets mostly
North American and European markets, and is expected to be lucrative. But
competition is intense, including from the Embraer E-Jet family and CRJ700 and
CRJ900 from Bombardier, as well as newcomers.
More than 5,000 deliveries of regional
jets are expected over the next 20 years, according to Mitsubishi, whose
aircraft division is called Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp.
Japan's regional rival China has two
commercial jet aircraft projects underway, the first of which, the ARJ21, is
now ready for delivery, according to manufacturer Commercial Aircraft
Corporation of China, also known as Comac. The plane, with room for up to 90
passengers, had been promised for 2007, but technical problems led to years of
delay.
Comac's larger single-aisle C919 is
even more ambitious, intended to compete with Boeing's 737 and the Airbus A320,
with room for as many as 168 passengers and a range of up to 5,100 kilometers
(3,200 miles). The plane's official delivery date hasn't been announced.
Mitsubishi and other Japanese
manufacturers are longtime partners with U.S. airplane maker Boeing Co., and
made main components for the 787 Dreamliner.
But having a home grown jet is a source
of pride in Japan, whose prized aircraft creations have included the wartime
Zero fighter.
Major automaker Honda Motor Co. is
planning its own jet, the HondaJet, its first foray into aeronautics, although
it's much smaller, seating only several passengers. A production model went on
display earlier this year, and it's aiming to go into service next year.
The MRJ engine is supplied by Pratt
& Whitney, a unit of United Technologies.
By
Yuri Yageyama
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