Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) will close its purchase of the CRJ Series of aircraft from Bombardier Aerospace (BBA, Montréal Trudeau) on June 1 as originally anticipated.
The firms said in a joint statement that all the necessary conditions have been met paving the way for the creation of MHI RJ Aviation Group (MHIRJ), which will assume responsibility for the CRJ Program going forward.
As previously indicated, under the USD550 million deal, MHI has acquired the CRJ Program's maintenance, support, refurbishment, marketing, and sales activities, along with its type certificates. This includes the CRJ-related services and support network located primarily in Mirabel (Québec) and Toronto (Ontario) in Canada as well as Bridgeport (West Virginia) and Tucson (Arizona) in the United States. CRJ spare parts will continue to be distributed through depots in Chicago, Illinois and Frankfurt, Germany.
MHIRJ will compliment MHI's existing commercial aircraft business, Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation (Nagoya Chubu), and provide servicing and support solutions to the global aircraft industry including the CRJ Series aircraft. Eventually, it will also cater to the Mitsubishi SpaceJet family.
The CRJ production facility at Montréal Mirabel will remain with Bombardier, which will continue to supply components and spare parts and will assemble the current CRJ backlog on behalf of MHI. However, the CRJ production line is expected to close during the second half of this year once all outstanding order commitments have been fulfilled.
