The enterprise, which officially started in 2008 and cost about
Mitsubishi Heavy initially expected to roll out its first plane by 2013, but a lack of know-how and technological snags caused the company to postpone its delivery date six times, leading to repeated design changes.
The single-aisle passenger jet with less than 100 seats, named SpaceJet, drew about 450 orders at one point, with customers that included
But the figure nosedived to about 270 as airlines started retracting orders. Mitsubishi Heavy said it will cancel all of the remaining orders.
"We cannot deny that we lacked the know-how (in developing passenger jets)," Mitsubishi Heavy President
In addition to the around
The project, supported by
But as the company repeatedly failed to meet its delivery date, many suppliers and customers started to see the project as "a lost cause," industry insiders say.
Industry experts believe that the company's corporate culture of preferring in-house development rather than utilizing outside resources is partly responsible for the failure.
The experts say Mitsubishi Heavy was too confident in developing commercial jets, given its history in making military aircraft, including Zero fighters during World War II.
The company said it will liquidate its plane-making subsidiary
"Our initial estimate for its development costs was too optimistic," Izumisawa said, adding, "We didn't have engineers with such know-how, and it was rather (hard to find) any in
==Kyodo
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