Japan is preparing to call a halt to its long-running YS-X regional-aircraft study, with the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) refusing to pump further funding into the project beyond the end of the financial year.
The Japan Aircraft Development (JADC) consortium is understood to be drawing up plans to halve its 50-strong engineering staff following MITI's decision on YS-X funding, and a general cut in overall funding for other projects.
MITI's last allocation of ´380 million ($2.85 million) in funding will run out at the end of the 1997/8 financial year on 31 March. JADC's member companies, led by Fuji Heavy Industries, Kawasaki and Mitsubishi, have also indicated their reluctance to devote any more money to the five-year-old programme.
The proposed 90- to 110-seat twinjet has never progressed beyond the study stage and has been attracting progressively less funding for the last two years. The aircraft has been undermined by a combination of strong competition in the regional-aircraft market and high local manufacturing costs, making full-scale development and selling of the YS-X uneconomical.
Source: Flight International
