FARNBOROUGH, England (Reuters) – Japan's Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp., trying to keep its new regional jet on track after series of delays, was forced to cancel a demo flight for the world's aerospace industry on Tuesday after the jet was hit by a truck.
Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp’s Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) takes off for a test flight at Nagoya Airfield in Toyoyama town, Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo.(Reuters file photo)
The prang, which follows the jet's debut at the show on Monday, will not interrupt marketing efforts. But it will do nothing to help the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) pull in orders at a time when giants Airbus SE and Boeing Co. are extending their grip to the smaller end of the market.
The 90-seat MRJ, Japan's great hope for reviving a dormant commercial aviation industry, was launched a decade ago. Five delays later, it is now expected to enter service with Japanese carrier ANA Holdings, Inc. in 2020, compared with the initial target of 2013.
As a result, it missed a potentially lucrative window of opportunity to be the first to market with the latest generation of fuel-efficient regional jets.
It is up against Embraer, whose commercial aircraft arm may be controlled by Boeing if a provisional deal between the manufacturers is completed. Meanwhile, Airbus has pushed into the smaller end of the jet market with a deal to take control of the Bombardier, Inc. CSeries, now branded as the A220.
"These developments are disastrous for the MRJ," said Richard Aboulafia, vice president, analysis at Teal Group. "They are no longer competing with small companies from Canada and Brazil; they are now competing with global aerospace behemoths, with enormous pricing power and industrial scale."
Mitsubishi Aircraft is looking to gain orders despite the increased competitive threat, and executives at Farnborough, hosting a press conference on Monday as the A220 flew overhead, said they felt they had a good chance in the regional market.
"This is the newest plane design in several decades," Shunichi Miyanaga, President and CEO of parent Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. said. "Engine-wise and aerodynamically it is the newest type of regional jet and is highly competitive."
It will not compete with the larger variants of the newest Embraer jets or the A220. Miyanaga said it wanted to focus on the 100-seat and under segment of the market.
However, analysts say the more immediate challenge is hanging onto its existing order book given Mitsubishi Aircraft has so far lost its bet on US pilot unions relaxing strict rules about the size of jets flown by regional carriers.
Of the 213 firm orders, 150 are split between two US regional carriers, SkyWest Inc and Trans States Holdings.
The MRJ90 is too large for them to fly without the relaxation of the pilot union rules and the prospect of changes has dimmed due to a pilot shortage that has given unions more bargaining power.