Continuing with the series of old photos posted during the COVID-19 pandemic, today I am posting the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ). All photos were taken at the Farnborough Airshow in 2018.

Detailed News: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to Virtually Freeze Development of Domestic Regional Jet

[Kyodo News, October 22] Interviews with multiple related parties on the 22nd revealed that Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is making final coordination to drastically cut the R&D costs and personnel for its first domestic jet regional airliner, the "SpaceJet" (formerly MRJ), and to effectively freeze the project. The company believes that due to the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic, demand from ordering airlines is currently hopeless to recover. Japan invested huge amounts of public and private funds in a bid to launch its first domestic passenger jet in about half a century, but missed delivery deadlines 6 times due to lack of experience and technology. The national industrial policy may also suffer a huge blow.

Watching the MRJ (now renamed Mitsubishi SpaceJet) perform at the Farnborough Airshow, my impression was that the aircraft’s flight attitude was agile and the noise was low. I was quite optimistic about its commercial success. Unexpectedly, due to the impact of the pandemic, the global aviation industry has suffered a heavy blow. The MRJ project also had to halt development; there is no way around it.

Below are a few more close-up photos.

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