Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. plans to erect a new plant so its subsidiary, Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp., can produce a new small jet currently under development, company sources said Thursday.
Mitsubishi Heavy intends to secure a 7.8-hectare site neighboring an airport in Toyoyama, Aichi Prefecture, for the factory, which is expected to help invigorate the regional economy by creating new jobs. The firm hopes to start building the plant as early as fiscal 2014.
The Aichi Prefectural Government intends to develop the site, which it owns together with the central government, as an aircraft production base and to invite companies to bid for the land. Mitsubishi Heavy intends to win any bidding war.
Orders for the Mitsubishi Regional Jet have reached 325 units, and Mitsubishi Aircraft plans to boost them to 1,500 within the next two decades. It also aims to raise the production pace to 10 units per month around fiscal 2020.