Mitsubishi Plans Montreal SpaceJet Center

Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation announced plans to establish a center in Montreal, Canada, last week. The company, which also opened U.S. headquarters in Renton, Washington, in May, says the move will help it “prepare for the next phase of its global growth” as it looks toward beginning deliveries of the first of its new SpaceJet family of regional jets next year. As previously reported by AVweb, the SpaceJet M90—previously the MRJ90—began certification flight test activities in the U.S. in March.

“Our Montreal presence adds to our footprint in major global aerospace hubs, including Nagoya and Washington State,” said Mitsubishi Chief Development Officer Alex Bellamy. “Since introducing our product family in June, we have had an overwhelmingly positive response, and we are intent on building the team that allows us to fully support our airline partners and customers.”

Along with rebranding the MRJ family with the “commercial” name "SpaceJet," Japan-based Mitsubishi officially introduced the SpaceJet M100 model last June. Earlier this month, the company announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Mesa Airlines to begin negotiations on the purchase of 100 M100 aircraft. Mitsubishi has previously stated that its plans to begin M90 deliveries in 2020.