Mitsubishi Heavy freezes SpaceJet project due to plunging demand for air travel

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. will freeze its development of Japan's first domestically manufactured passenger jet due to an almost evaporating demand for air travel demand.

According to Mitsubishi Heavy President Seiji Izumisawa, the company is taking a pause, which means it will neither spend huge amounts of money nor have a specific schedule in the development of the Mitsubishi SpaceJet.

Mitsubishi Heavy will continue working on obtaining a type certificate based on data collected from over 3,900 hours of test flights of commercial aircraft.

The budget for the SpaceJet project will be cut from $573 million for fiscal 2020 alone to $191 million for fiscal 2021 and 2023.

The SpaceJet has a "game-changing" fuel efficiency design in carrying around 90 passengers.

Delivery of the jet to All Nippon Airways Co. was originally planned for 2013 but has been repeatedly postponed to at least 2021.

The Japanese government has backed the SpaceJet project, launched in 2008, in hope of fostering its aviation industry, which lacked experience and expertise in jet aircraft development.

The SpaceJet is poised to become Japan's first domestically-manufactured commercial plane since the turboprop plane YS-11 in the 1960s and 1970s.

Before the pandemic, Mitsubishi Heavy anticipated global demand of about 5,000 planes with 100 passenger capacity over the next two decades and has acquired the regional jet business of Canada's Bombardier Inc.