Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, parent company of Mitsubishi Aircraft, has closed two of its three US facilities in related to the development of its business focussed SpaceJet aircraft programme.
Mitsubishi Aircraft will close its headquarters in Renton, Washington, and another in Quebec, while the test flight site in Washington state's Moses Lake remains open.
The two sites opened in 2019, ahead of the planned launch of SpaceJet, the Japanese-made regional jet. While Mitsubishi Heavy plans to relocate staff to Japan 600 people will lose their jobs. Mitsubishi’s aviation operations have been hard hit by COVID 19, especially its supply of major parts for Boeing jets.
“Due to the budget directives, Mitsubishi Aircraft will close its overseas locations and consolidate activities at its headquarters in Nagoya, Japan,” a company spokesman told The Seattle Times. “This will impact the majority of our employees in the United States,” he said, adding, “We have had to make difficult decisions that will significantly reduce our global activities and will have a major impact on our organization.
The 90-seat class SpaceJet aircraft was scheduled to be delivered after 2021, but mass production was halted. Development of a 70-seat class planned to be delivered in 2023 also has ended.