Kawasaki Heavy eyes air cargo plane business

Tokyo, July 3: Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. is looking at entering the commercial air cargo plane business and may begin sales from around 2012, the Nikkei business daily reported on Tuesday.

The heavy machinery maker is set to begin production of a C-X military transport plane for Japan's armed forces next year, and if tests go well it has said it may begin work on a civilian version.

''We will think about fleshing out possible plans for a civilian version once the first test plane has had its first flight, which is planned for sometime from summer,'' Kawasaki Heavy spokeswoman Yuko Ogino said.

''But it is not as though we have firmed up our plans from before,'' she said.

The Nikkei said Kawasaki Heavy may begin working out the specifications of the plane, which is expected to be a small to mid-sized cargo plane, from 2009 so that it can start garnering orders.

The Kawasaki plane is expected to allow trucks to be loaded directly onto the plane, in contrast to rival offerings from Boeing Co. and Airbus, which have based their cargo planes on their passenger jet designs, it said.

Rival Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Japan's biggest machinery maker, is looking at building the country's first passenger jetliner and will make a decision on whether the plan is viable by the end of this business year.

Kawasaki's stock rose 1.4 percent to 511 yen in morning trade.

Reuters>