Are Asian aircraft finally taking flight?
Asia is a market that has seen strong business aviation growth in the last few years, and it is now spreading its wings in the manufacturing stakes, including concepts from two car manufacturers.
Big and small – from light jets, regional airliners, to a large jetliner – we are seeing the launch of some interesting new Asian competition in the airframe market.
Today, Mitsubishi saw the first (long awaited) flight of its MRJ90 regional jet; Last week, China showcased its new C919 Jetliner (to rival Boeing & Airbus); and the HondaJet has recently completed a four month long world tour of its revolutionary light jet. So is Asia finally starting to see its home-grown aviation brands take flight?
The Mitsubishi MRJ
Today was the maiden flight of the MRJ (Mitsubishi Regional Jet) – a long awaited moment for the Japanese manufacturer. The launch of the aircraft was announced back in 2001, with development starting in 2008. So it’s been a long road to get to this point, hampered by a series of delays. The MRJ is a 90 seater regional jet aircraft, with 223 orders in the pipeline including from All Nippon Airways and US airlines Skywest and Eastern Air Lines. Delivery is projected to be in 2017.
Following in Embraer’s footsteps, Mitsubishi have told the industry that they envisage a business jet version of the MRJ to follow (Embraer built the Legacy from its ERJ 135 regional jet airframe).
HondaJet
Elsewhere, another Japanese car manufacturer, Honda recently completed its world tour, garnering interest globally for its revolutionary light jet. The HondaJet is being headlined as “The world’s most advanced light jet”, and began its inception back in 2003, with a prototype launched to the US market. With its eyecatching ‘over-the-wing’ mounted engines, the HondaJet has created very strong market interest, and more than 100 orders, including in South America (home of its highly successful light-jet rival Embraer).
The FAA has given the HondaJet a provisional certification, but as yet there is still no clear timeline on when final certification will be given (although Honda has said they expect this to happen in 2015).
China’s C919 Jetliner
China also debuted its new jetliner last week, a competitor to the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 airliner seating up to 174 passengers.
Made by COMAC (the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China), the C919 has 517 orders in the pipeline and the aircraft is expected to see deliveries starting in 2018 or 2019, dependent on successful flight testing next year. The Chinese government owns COMAC, so there is a domestic market there already for the aircraft. But if the C919 does want to spread its wings to the US or Europe, it will need to be certified by the relevant aviation authorities. But how well will a new airframe fare in the very established markets where the power brands of Boeing & Airbus have such dominant market share?
At PrivateFly, we’ve been talking about how and when the C919 programme will develop into private aviation. Both Boeing and Airbus have dedicated business aviation divisions, with successful converted VIP airliners such as the BBJ MAX, Airbus ACJ319 and ACJ320. (Read more: Supersize Jets: aircraft buying habits of the billionaires).
With China’s growing ultra-high net worth population, there is certainly the market potential there for this to develop into an executive jet model.
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