Mitsubishi Aircraft rejigs leadership
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), the parent company of Mitsubishi Aircraft, has again changed the leadership of its aircraft subsidiary following the announcement the company would delay – again – deliveries of its long-awaited regional jet. Hisakazu Mizutani is set to become president of the aircraft unit on 1 April, the company announced in early February, with current president Hiromichi Morimoto stepping down the day before that.
The company launched its Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) programme back in 2008 with plans to deliver its first plane by 2013, but the programme has been beset with delays. Morimoto was the unit’s fourth president since 2008 and was originally brought in because he was not an aviation die-hard and it was hoped he could provide some “out of the box” thinking for the MRJ programme.
The company announced it was further delaying deliveries from mid-2018 to at least 2020 for redesigns it said were to improve safety.
