Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation (Nagoya Chubu) has no plans to restart the SpaceJet/MRJ programme certification "for now" and has asked the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to close its earlier request for exemption from certain rules.
"After stopping our flight test program due to the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020... our company took the decision to pause developing the MRJ-200 for the next three years. This decision was made in October 2020. All flight test vehicles were long-term-stored in a warehouse, and large numbers of Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation employees moved on to start new jobs," Head of Certification Ikuta Masahiko said in response to the FAA's request for more information.
The Japanese manufacturer carried out the SpaceJet's certification process exclusively in the United States. It based all five built M90s out of Moses Lake, where they remain in storage for the time being, according to the ch-aviation fleets module. In December 2019, it filed a request for an exemption from certain certification requirements concerning rapid decompression events due to uncontained engine failures. Nearly two years later, the FAA asked it for further data on the development. .
"Because there is no plan to restart the program as of now, there is no chance of acquiring new data/information to progress this exemption request... I believe you can close out this exemption request now," Ikuta said.
Even as the M90 programme appeared to be doomed, the Japanese manufacturer closed the acquisition of the CRJ manufacturing line from Bombardier Aerospace. While originally it intended to focus on supporting existing aircraft, it has recently been linked to a possible restart of the line to manufacture new units.
