JAPAN: Eastern Air Lines Cancels Order For 40 Mitsubishi Regional Jets From Mitsubishi Aircraft

Mitsubishi Aircraft has agreed with Eastern Air Lines to cancel the U.S. carrier's order for 40 Mitsubishi Regional Jets.

Mitsubishi Aircraft has received orders for around 450 MRJs.

According to the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries unit, the cancellation will not affect delivery of other jets.

Mitsubishi Aircraft, which has pushed back its first deliveries five times already, now expects to ship its first jets in 2020.

Eastern Air last year was purchased by rival Swift Air. Eastern then lost its airline license.

The carrier ordered the passenger jets four years ago, and delivery was originally scheduled to start in 2019, but Mitsubishi Aircraft has twice pushed back the date, which had been up in the air before the cancellation.

The Japanese company is now anxious about other orders, like one from SkyWest of the U.S. for 200 aircraft.

The MRJ made its maiden test flight in 2015 and has been taking to the air for further tests in the U.S. since then.

Last January, however, Mitsubishi Aircraft was forced to announce a fifth delay, saying the MRJ failed to be certified as airworthy by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.

Since then, other makers of regional jets have been heaping pressure on Mitsubishi Aircraft. Brazil's Embraer, regarded as the biggest player in the space, is in tie-up negotiations with Boeing.

Canada's Bombardier has already joined hands with Airbus. And a Chinese company, Comac, has introduced its own regional jet.

In Japan, the fate of the MRJ progra, the first effort to produce a domestic passenger aircraft in about a half century is a matter of national pride.

Amid all the media attention, there are hopes that the jet can debut in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has decided to act. It has brought the problem ridden Mitsubishi Aircraft under the direct supervision of its president, Shunichi Miyanaga.

The parent company also plans to hire aircraft engineers away from U.S. makers so that they can help the MRJ win certification by the end of next year.


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IRAN: Mitsubishi To Sell Planes To Iran

Iran has reportedly started talks to purchase planes from Mitsubishi Aircraft - the aviation arm of Japan's industrial giant Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Japan's media say the country's Mitsubishi Aircraft is negotiating with Iran to provide the country with its regional passenger jets that are currently under development.

The Nikki newspaper says in a report that Mitsubishi Aircraft - the aviation arm of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries - began market surveys into Iran last September, four months before the U.S. lifted sanctions.

The company has been negotiating over jet sales with Iran's flag carrier Iran Air and Iran Aseman Airlines, as well as the country's aviation authorities.

Iran Air is weighing purchasing 80 70-seat Mitsubishi Regional Jets and using them for domestic routes, Nikki added. Executives from both sides also discussed a possible deal last month during the International Air Transport Association conference in Dublin.

The report added that Mitsubishi is trying to use the help of the Japanese government over the purchase and wants to make use of state-backed financing.

Iranian airliner Iran Air and Boeing reached a memorandum of agreement in June, under which a total of 80 aircraft will be sold to Iran and a further 29 will be leased with Boeing's support as part of a $25 billion contract.

Meanwhile, Boeing's European rival Airbus is also awaiting Washington's approval of an agreement with Tehran over the purchase of 118 planes, worth over $27 billion.

The deals with Boeing and Airbus came after aircraft sanctions against Tehran were lifted under a landmark nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 group of nations-the US, Russia, France, Britain, China and Germany-reached in July last year.

Body was formed last year to implement the economic views of the Leader of Iran's Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.