First MRJ test flight scheduled for latter half of October

(Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation)

The first Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) test flight is scheduled for the latter half of October, Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has announced.

Mitsubishi said in a statement released Monday that further details will be released near the end of September and the exact date of the first flight will be announced one day before.

The first flight will take place at Nagoya Airport in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, and its surrounding airspace. It will last approximately one hour, according to the statement.

Mitsubishi president Hiromichi Morimoto told reporters at the Paris Air Show in June that the new MRJ schedule remains on track.

The MRJ was originally scheduled to achieve first flight in 2012 and in April the latest schedule was adjusted, with first flight moving from the 2015 second quarter to later this year. Mitsubishi plans to deliver the first MRJ to All Nippon Airways (ANA) in the 2017 second quarter.

(Linda Blachly - ATWOnline News)