Honda delays personal jet

Honda will delay first deliveries of its Hondajet until mid-2013 after the GE Honda HF120 test engine was damaged during an ice ingestion test.

According to Honda, the ground-based test resulted in a small loss of thrust and damage was minor.

Regardless, redesign work will push engine certification out to late 2012, with full certification of the Hondajet to follow.

The current flight test schedule will continue with the current version of the HF120 and another prototype is expected to fly next month.

The third prototype will now be fitted with the redesigned engine.

The delay is not expected to impact sales to any great degree because the market conditions are slow.

It will, however, cause the company to delay plans to expand the Greensboro, North Carolina, production plant, resulting in about 300 new job opportunities postponed.

Initially, the first Hondajet deliveries were expected in 2010.