According to local media reports, the Japanese company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is about to put the Spacejet program on hold. The group itself does not want to comment on this and refers to "various options" that are currently being examined.
The two big news agencies Kyodo and Nikkei Asia write that the Spacejet development is about to be discontinued. Decisions are expected from October 30, 2020, because Mitsubishi Heavy Industries then wants to communicate the long-term strategic direction of the entire group of companies.
The trigger for the possible end of the once extremely ambitious program is likely to be the corona pandemic. Demand has plummeted and it is said that several customers are also supposed to be negotiating cancellations. There is no specific date for the first delivery to All Nippon Airways. This should actually have taken place in 2013, now it is still “2021 or later”.
An indication that there are dark clouds over the Mitsubishi Spacejet is also the fact that the test program has almost completely come to a standstill since March 2020. According to CH-Aviation.com, four out of five M90 prototypes ever built are in Moses Lake and have not been moved since March 2020. The fifth unit has been in storage in Nagoya Komaki since May 12, 2020.
and 
2 Comments