Mitsubishi Aircraft to open US engineering and flight test center

Cleveland, Ohio – Mitsubishi Aircraft plans to open a U.S. engineering and flight test center to support certification efforts of its Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ). South Seattle will be home to Mitsubishi Aircraft’s North American engineering center, with Grant County International Airport (Moses Lake, Washington) serving as the flight-test base airport. The company expects to have 100 employees working in Washington State, half of them Japanese engineers and the other half locally hired experts.

 

The announcement was made by Yugo Fukuhara, vice president and sales manager, sales and marketing, Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp., in a program update of the MRJ presented at the Regional Airliner Association convention held in Cleveland.

 

MRJ flight testing in the U.S. is expected to commence in the second quarter 2016 and run through the first quarter of 2017, according to Fukuhara. Four out of the five of the MRJ flight test aircraft (FTA) now under construction in Nagoya, Japan, will be test-flown from airports in Colorado, New Mexico, and Florida in addition to Washington. The North American tests will follow initial flight testing in Japan, expected to begin by October of this year. 

 

FTA No. 1, which had its first engine run on Jan. 13, 2015, is currently undergoing ground testing; FTA No. 2 will be dedicated to validating functional performance; FTA No. 3 will test flight characteristics and avionics; and FTA No. 4 will be dedicated to interior, noise, and anti-icing tests. A fifth flight test aircraft will remain in Japan.

 

The MRJ series is planned in 70- to 100-seat versions, with the 90-seat jet to be ready for delivery to launch customer ANA Airlines of Japan in the second quarter of 2017.

 

To date, six customers have placed 223 firm orders for the MRJ – 170 of those with US-based carriers or lessors. Including options and purchase rights, total aircraft orders number 407.

 

Mitsubishi Aircraft is building a new final assembly factory in Komaki, Japan, for the production ramp-up, with the facility expected to be completed in early 2016.

 

The new plant, being constructed on a site adjacent to Nagoya Airport, will perform final assembly, outfitting, and painting of the new airplane.

 

In January, Mitsubishi Aircraft relocated its head office functions to the Nagoya Airport where the MRJ’s final assembly and ground testing are currently being performed.