The Bombardier CRJ/Mitsubishi CRJ or CRJ Series (for Canadair Regional Jet) is a family of

regional jet A regional jet (RJ) is a jet airliner, jet-powered regional airliner usually defined by having fewer than 100 seats. The first aircraft considered part of this category was the Sud-Aviation Caravelle in 1959, followed by Douglas DC-9, BAC O ...

s introduced in 1991 by Bombardier Aerospace. The CRJ was manufactured by Bombardier Aerospace with the manufacturing of the first CRJ generation, the CRJ100/200 starting in 1991 and the second CRJ generation, the CRJ700 series starting in 1999. The CRJ programme was acquired by Japanese corporation

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group and its automobile division is the prede ...

(MHI RJ Aviation Group) in a deal that closed 1 June 2020. Bombardier subsequently completed the assembly of the order backlog on behalf of Mitsubishi. Bombardier claims it is the most successful family of regional jets in the world. Production ended in December 2020 after 1,945 were built.

Background

The family consists of the following aircraft generations and models/derivatives: * CRJ100/200 **

CRJ100 The Bombardier CRJ100 and CRJ200 (previously Canadair CRJ100 and CRJ200) are regional jets designed and manufactured by Bombardier Aerospace between 1991 and 2006, the first of the Bombardier CRJ family. The ''Canadair Regional Jet'' (CRJ) ...

– maximum of 50 passenger seats **

CRJ200 The Bombardier CRJ100 and CRJ200 (previously Canadair CRJ100 and CRJ200) are regional jets designed and manufactured by Bombardier Aerospace between 1991 and 2006, the first of the Bombardier CRJ family. The ''Canadair Regional Jet'' (CRJ) pro ...

– maximum of 50 passenger seats, improved CF34-3B1 engine *** CRJ440 – CRJ200 limited to 44 passenger seats * CRJ700 series ** CRJ700 – maximum of 78 passenger seats *** CRJ550 – CRJ700 limited to 50 passenger seats **

CRJ900 The Bombardier CRJ700 series is a family of regional jet airliners that were designed and manufactured by Canadian transportation conglomerate Bombardier (formerly Canadair). Officially launched in 1997, the CRJ700 made its maiden flight on 27 ...

– maximum of 90 passenger seats *** CRJ705 – CRJ900 limited to 75 passenger seats ** CRJ1000 – maximum of 104 passenger seats

Divestment

, following Bombardier's decisions to sell the CSeries to

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

and the Q Series to

De Havilland Canada De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited (DHC) is a Canadian aircraft manufacturer that has produced numerous aircraft models since its inception including the popular De Havilland Canada Dash 8, Dash 8. The company's primary facilities were loca ...

, the company was looking at "strategic options" to return the CRJ to profitability. Analysts suspected that it might decide to exit the commercial aircraft market altogether and refocus on business aircraft. That prediction came to pass on 25 June 2019, when a deal was announced to sell the CRJ programme to

, the parent company of

Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation , abbreviated MITAC, was a Japanese company that developed, produced, sold and supported the Mitsubishi SpaceJet (formerly MRJ) passenger airliners. The manufacturing of the aircraft was planned to be carried out by parent company Mitsubishi He ...

. Mitsubishi had a historic interest in the CRJ programme, having sounded out risk-sharing options with Bombardier, and were at one point expected to take a stake in its SpaceJet venture during the 1990s."Bombardier gains approval to offer stretched Regional Jet."
''Flight International'', 4 September 1996. Bombardier ceased new sales and announced that production of the CRJ would continue at Mirabel until the current order backlog was complete. The deal was to include the type certificate for the CRJ series; Bombardier worked with

Transport Canada Transport Canada () is the Ministry (government department), department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, Policy, policies and Public services, services of road, rail, marine and air Transport in Canada, tra ...

to separate the CRJ certificate from that of the Challenger. Closure of the deal was confirmed on 1 June 2020, with Bombardier's service and support activities transferred to a new Montreal-based company, MHI RJ Aviation Group. MHI RJ has not renamed the aircraft, and its website referred simply to the CRJ Series. The final Bombardier CRJ to be produced, a CRJ900, finished production and was delivered to

SkyWest Airlines SkyWest Airlines is an American regional airline headquartered in St. George, Utah. SkyWest operates and maintains aircraft used on flights that are scheduled, marketed and sold by four partner Mainline (air travel), mainline airlines. The comp ...

on 28 February 2021. In 2021, Mitsubishi investigated restarting production on the CRJ550, a variant of the CRJ700 limited to 50 passenger seats, similar to the nominal seating capacity of the 100/200 models. Restarting production would involve building a new plant, as the former plant is now making

Airbus A220 The Airbus A220 is a family of five-abreast narrow-body airliners by Airbus Canada Limited Partnership (ACLP). It was originally developed by Bombardier Aviation and had two years in service as the Bombardier CSeries. The program was launche ...

s, and taking the tooling out of storage. However, , Mitsubishi has not pursued a restart.

Specifications

References

External links

* {{Set index article Set index articles on vehicles Canadian airliners Bombardier Aerospace