Home » Business » Manufacturing
Jet delivery delayed for 3rd time
Print Edition
Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp, a unit of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, said yesterday it would delay the initial delivery of its regional jet to the second quarter of 2017 to ensure the company can meet Japanese safety regulations.
The Mitsubishi Regional Jet, Japan’s first commercial plane in 50 years, was set to be delivered to customers in 2015.
Mitsubishi Aircraft CEO Teruaki Kawai said the delay was due to the company’s underestimation of the time it needed to sort out how to validate the safety of the manufacturing process of the jet and its components, and not from any issues with specific suppliers.
A report by the Nikkei business daily had put the delay down to problems with the delivery of parts, including engines from Pratt & Whitney.
“We were late in noticing (how long this will take), and that is largely because this is new for us,” Kawai told a news conference. “We are confident we can meet this schedule.”
Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp, also denied there were any delays on its part. “We are on track and on time to deliver the first engine as required by Mitsubishi’s schedule,” the company said in a statement.
Mitsubishi Aircraft already has 165 firm orders for the MRJ, and this is the third time the company has pushed back the jet’s delivery schedule. The MRJ will now go on its first flight in 2015 instead of later this year, Kawai said.
The plane, which has 70-90 seats, costs US$42 million. It aims to compete with jets made by Brazil’s Embraer and Canada’s Bombardier. The first delivery of the jet, developed at a cost of US$1.9 billion, will go to Japanese airline ANA Holdings.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
