Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has announced that it is cancelling the public-private SpaceJet project that would have seen Japan launch its first domestically produced passenger jet, despite having received orders over time for over 450 of the aircraft. The project had been supported by the Japanese government and domestic firms including Toyota, but has been beset with problems and multiple delays which has seen it exceed its original target launch date by some ten years and the consequential cancellation of many of the original orders from the likes of Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways.
The project was launched in 2008 under the project name Mitsubishi Regional Jet with the original launch date penned for 2013. The twin-engine less-than-100-seat jet was intended to herald in a new era of regional travel within Japan, but after the project was renamed SpaceJet in 2019, in 2020 the project was put on hold after further technical problems and the negative effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic on the aerospace industry.
The firm's president, Seiji Izumisawa, admitted that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries “lacked the know-how” to develop passenger jets. “We are no longer sure of its business viability,” he told reporters. In a statement, the company said that it had been “difficult to obtain understanding and necessary cooperation from global partners”, adding that “further extensive funding” was needed to get the plane's design approved.
