MOSES LAKE — Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. moves into the new year with yet another delay in the first delivery of the Mitsubishi Regional Jet.

The company announced a fifth delay in handing over Japan’s first locally made passenger jet to the airlines from mid-2018 to mid-2020. The change is due to revisions of certain systems and electrical configurations on the aircraft to meet the latest requirements for certification.

“We feel like we are making progress with our testing on the aircraft here in Moses Lake,” said Hitoshi “Hank” Iwasa, deputy head of Moses Lake Flight Test Center. “Our aircraft have been in the air almost every day so we can address the issues.”

According to a report in The Asahi Shimbun, a suggestion from outside engineers triggered the latest postponement for the introduction of the MRJ, originally set for 2013. The engineers recommended last summer that the flight control systems be distributed in both the back and front portions of the aircraft, which had been heavily concentrated in the front part of the plane, to enhance safety.

Revision of some electrical configuration to meet certification requirements prompted the latest push-back of the deadline. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. decided to postpone the 2018 delivery date to review the connections of more than 20,000 wires based on the recommendation.

St. George, Utah-based SkyWest Inc. is the plane’s biggest customer. The Japan Times reported launch customer ANA Holdings Inc. will get the jet in 2020, based on statements made by Mitsubishi at the press conference in Tokyo on Monday.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. established the MRJ Business Promotion Committee, chaired by Shunichi Miyanaga, president and chief executive officer of MHI, on Nov. 28, 2016 to oversee the continued development and long-term business performance of the MRJ, according to a press release,

“Since the historic MRJ first flight in November 2015, we have made significant progress in both engineering and test, and now three aircraft are in flight test in the United States,” the release said. “Going forward, under the MRJ Business Promotion Committee’s oversight, we will continue to make prompt decisions and remain firmly committed to the development of the MRJ to offer our customers.”

Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. has flown three MRJ aircraft to the Moses Lake Flight Testing Center at Grant County International Airport for testing, following setbacks last year.

The first arrived at Grant County International Airport on Sept. 28, 2016 to global fanfare. The MRJ is the first commercial passenger plane from Japan in five decades and Japanese reporters and broadcast crews reported the historical ferry from Nagoya, Japan.

The original plan had been to fly the first MRJ to the U.S. at the end of August. But shortly after the plane took off from Nagoya on Aug. 27, an air conditioning malfunction forced it to return. The same problem occurred the following day. The third attempt, on Sep. 26, was successful.

The second aircraft, MRJ 4, arrived to less fanfare; in fact, only flight test crew and employees were on hand on Nov. 18 when it taxied to the $9 million, 65,000-square-foot hangar built specifically to house the regional jets while they are being flight-tested.

The third jet arrived on Dec. 19. The fourth MRJ was projected to arrive on Tuesday, but that could not be confirmed at this time.

Mitsubishi Aircraft has 447 orders for the plane, including options and purchase rights.