TOKYO, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) on Tuesday announced the decision to halt its project to create Japan's first domestically developed small passenger jet.
The SpaceJet was halted mostly due to dim prospects of commercialization, explained Seiji Izumisawa, president of the company, at the conference.
Other reasons for the cancelation included difficulties in predicting the market size of small jets and the need to respond to electrification for decarbonization, according to the company.
Due to delays in development work and a drop in aircraft demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, the project has been essentially put on hold since 2020.
Izumisawa apologized for failing to deliver orders for such passenger jets, noting the company had received orders from ANA Holdings and Japan Airlines for 267 aircraft.
MHI also announced the plan to liquidate its subsidiary related to the project, Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation.
Although the withdrawal terminated the public-private project to create a local industry, its impact on businesses remained minor, said the company.
Also on Tuesday, MHI released its financial results for the first three quarters of the fiscal year of 2022.
In the third quarter that ended Dec. 31 last year, the company reported an 11.1-percent revenue growth year on year, while its order intake rose 19 percent, the results showed.
"We saw increases in orders and revenue in three out of four reporting segments arising from business expansion and benefits from the depreciation of the yen," said Hisato Kozawa, the chief financial officer of the company. ■