Aircraft
New Breed of RJ Makers Making Inroads
Two of the new breed of big regional jets from the Eastern Hemisphere reached some long-awaited milestones recently, namely the

Two of the new breed of big regional jets from the Eastern Hemisphere reached some long-awaited milestones recently, namely the Russian certification of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 and the signing of the first firm order for the Mitsubishi MRJ by an airline based outside Japan.

The achievements came as questions mounted about the commercial and technical progress of projects at better established Western commercial aircraft manufacturers, including Bombardier–whose C Series has failed to gain an order since Republic Airways signed for 40 CS300s last February–and Embraer, which will continue to hedge on a successor to the E-Jet series until, according to CEO Frederico Curado, Boeing decides on whether to embark an all-new 737 or re-engine the existing model.