Rising Sun

Kawai, a native of Hiroshima who spent his boyhood watching planes come and go from the city’s airport, had long dreamt of designing planes– he studied aeromechanics at Kyoto University – and is determined to play a major role in establishing an aircraft industry in Japan. He is more than relieved the countdown has begun to first flight reality. “We have finally come to the starting line,” he says.

It has been a long and turbulent road. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries decided to build the MRJ in 2008 and initially planned its first flight for 2014. That schedule was postponed three times for various reasons, including difficulties in parts procurement.

“The development process didn’t always go smoothly,” says Kawai. “One reason was that we didn’t have any experience of developing civil aircraft. There were also regulatory changes during the development process which added issues because we had to make design changes to comply with those regulations. ” Now, he is confident everything is on track. While Kawai won’t disclose a precise date for the first flight insiders say it has been carefully timed to take place shortly before the Paris Airshow in June. A successful first flight on the eve of the show would be a huge boost for potential new orders.

At present the MRJ has 223 confirmed orders with 184 options, including a firm order for 32 from Japan Airlines and an order for 15 with 10 options from All Nippon Airways. Myanmar’s Air Mandalayhas placed a small order for six with four options while there are three orders from US-based airline groups. These are Skywest (100 firm and 100 options), Miami-based New Eastern Airlines (20 firm and 20 options) and Trans State Holdings, a Missouri-based privately owned holding company for three regional airlines – Compass Airlines, GoJet Airlines and Trans States Airlines – which has 50 firm orders and 50 options.

“This plane hasn’t flown yet and we already have more than 400 orders (and options),” says Kawai. “That is a great achievement for us”. He added that what customers will get – deliveries are scheduled for late 2016 or early 2017 – is a next-generation aircraft featuring the latest engines and state-of-the-art aerodynamics to drastically reduce fuel consumption, noise, and emissions, while offering top-class operational benefits, an outstanding cabin designed for heightened passenger flying comfort, and large overhead bins.

The MRJ’s main market competitors will be Brazil’s Embraer and Canada’s Bombardier, though new aircraft being designed by Russia’s Sukhoi and China’s COMAC will enter the fray later.

At present, Mitsubishi is offering two versions of the aircraft, the 88-seat MRJ90 and the 76-seat MRJ70. On the drawing board is also a 100-seat MRJ100 but Kawai said a decision on proceeding with this has not yet been made. “Some customers want a bigger plane, especially European and Asian customers, but we haven’t really decided to develop this aircraft yet. ” Meanwhile, Mitsubishi is more than ambitious about the amount of marketshare it can capture. With forecasts suggesting some 5,000 regional jets under 100 seats will be required over the next 20 years, Kawai said the Japanese company expects to corner half of that market in the future. “Honestly, I would like to have 2,500 orders,” he declares.

In the meantime, given first flight goes as planned, it will mark a major milestone for Japan’s aerospace industry. Following the Second World War, Japan was banned from having an aviation industry. When that ban was lifted, it did manufacture a turboprop airliner, the NAMC YS-11 in 1962 but the project was a spectacular failure. In 2015 the country is back in play with signs that that early failure won’t be repeated.