Delayed Expectation

The big planemakers acknowledge that sometime in the future they will face competition from commercial jets produced in China and Japan. But the pretenders, dogged by delays and production issues, seem to be doing their best to ensure it won’t be any time soon.

If you want to play with the big boys, you have to be prepared to experience some pain. That’s exactly what Japan’s Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation (MAC) and Shanghai-based Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) are enduring as they struggle to get their new jets to market. In spades. 

The latest announcement from the Japanese company that first delivery of its Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ), being built at Nagoya, has been pushed back for the fifth time, from mid-2018 to mid-2020, seven years later than originally planned, is yet another body blow to its ambitions. Development costs have already tripled to A$6.9 billion and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHI), owner of the aircraft maker, has said these costs are likely to increase about 30 per cent with the latest delay, as the conglomerate attempts to break the dominance of Brazil’s Embraer and Canada’s Bombardier on jets with less than 100 seats. The MRJ, which made its first flight in 2015, can seat up to 92.