Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has completed the acquisition of Bombardier’s Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) aircraft programme on Monday.
The takeover, valued at approximately $750 million, was announced back in June 2019. Last month, the two companies first confirmed the closing date of the transaction as June 1st, after saying that all conditions of the deal have been met.
From now on, MHI is responsible for marketing, sales, maintenance, development, etc. of the CRJ aircraft family. The type certificate now also lays in Mitsubishi’s hands.
However, Bombardier will finish assembly of the last 15 remaining CRJ family aircraft, before the programme concludes.
With the takeover of the aircraft, Japan’s Mitsubishi has created a new corporate entity to hold the project, called MHI RJ Aviation. On Monday morning, MHI RJ took over from Canadian Bombardier and the CRJ’s online presence (including Social Media channels) has been rebranded.
Prior to the CRJ takeover, Mitsubishi has already been developing its own regional jet, called the ‘SpaceJet’. It is currently unclear when the first aircraft would be delivered to customers, as the programme’s US-based test flight facility has recently been closed amid the Coronavirus pandemic.
Jakob Wert is an aviation journalist from Germany. He built up the website IFN.news and is the Editor-In-Chief of International Flight Network.
