Mitsubishi Working with Partners on M100 Definition

The smaller of two SpaceJet variants would carry airframe advances to ensure lighter weight and improved aerodynamics.

By Gregory Polek • Senior Editor

June 17, 2019

Mitsubishi (Chalet 266) is meeting with prospective new strategic partners at the show this week to help refine airframe changes to the fuselage of the former MRJ70, now branded M100, to allow it to meet the 86,000-pound weight limit required by U.S. airline scope clauses. Scheduled for certification in 2023, the M100 would fly to a range of 2,000 nm, while seating 76 passengers in a three-class configuration, requiring Mitsubishi to seek advances to the airframe to lower weight—including the addition of new lightweight materials such as composites and different metallic alloys.

“There will be changes to the airframe,” confirmed Bellamy. “New technologies cost weight. So to save fuel on operating the aircraft we have to add more weight. The engine has weight, which means the wing has to be stronger. So to achieve the double-digit fuel burn efficiency improvement on the product we have to do some other things to the aircraft—different material selection and optimization, and we will do those things.”

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