Japan's transport ministry is planning to provide support for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd's project to develop a small passenger jet, which will be the first domestically built passenger aircraft in Japan for more than 30 years, ministry sources said on Jan. 13.

With no passenger aircraft built in Japan since the termination of production of the YS-11 in 1973, formulating such standards is seen as necessary for the realization of the jet project. The twin-engine Mitsubishi Regional Jet would provide seating capacity for 70-90 people. Mitsubishi Heavy is planning to determine the feasibility of the project by March.

Photograph: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. President Kazuo Tsukuda (L) and Pratt & Whitney President Stephen Finger shake hands next to a model of Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ), a next-generation regional aircraft, during a news conference on the MRJ project in Tokyo on Oct. 9, 2007. Photograph by Toru Hanai / Reuters.