By Skies Magazine | June 1, 2020 Estimated reading time 3 minutes, 4 seconds.
On June 1, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) of Japan closed its deal to acquire the CRJ Series aircraft program from Bombardier Inc.
The terms of the agreement – announced on June 25, 2019 – saw MHI pay Bombardier US$550 million for the regional jet program upon closing. The Japanese OEM also assumed liabilities amounting to about US$200 million.
MHI has launched a newly created group called MHI RJ Aviation Group (MHIRJ), headquartered in Montreal, that will assume maintenance, engineering, airworthiness certification support, refurbishment, asset management, marketing, and sales activities for the CRJ Series family of aircraft. The new company owns the type certificates and related intellectual property rights, and will oversee the services and support network mainly located in Mirabel and Toronto (Canada), and Bridgeport and Tucson (United States). CRJ Series spare parts will continue to be distributed from depots in Chicago (United States) and Frankfurt (Germany).
“I am pleased to announce the opening chapter of MHIRJ’s story,” said Hiroaki Yamamoto, president and CEO of the MHI RJ Aviation Group. “Building on the solid foundations already in place and with the strong support of the MHI group of companies, there is new energy on board and our team is committed to serving the regional aviation market and becoming a platform for growth in the industry.”
The sale of the CRJ program marks the end of Bombardier Commercial Aviation. The company sold its C Series program in 2018 and its Q400 turboprop family in 2019.
The 50-seat CRJ first flew in 1991. It was targeted at the regional airline feeder market and capitalized on the range limitations of turboprops and a public preference for turbofan aircraft, wrote Kenneth I. Swartz in this August 2019 Skies article.
With the CRJ, Bombardier scored a major hit. Entering service in November 1992 with launch customer Lufthansa CityLine, the CRJ100 heralded a boom in the regional jet industry. As the first aircraft of its kind, it is considered a pioneer and the world’s most successful family of regional aircraft, with more than 1,900 in service in 90 countries.
According to the terms of the deal, Bombardier will continue to assemble CRJ jets in Montreal until the remaining backlog of orders is filled, likely later this year.
MHI, which recently pulled back on the launch of its own SpaceJet program due to budget directives, is expected to benefit from acquiring the CRJ network of engineering expertise and heavy maintenance centres.
