The first flight-test aircraft apparently needs modification following unstated discoveries in ground testing. “In order to fully incorporate the verification results of the various ground tests and related feedback into the first flight-test aircraft, the timing of the first flight has been reviewed and is now scheduled for September or October of this year,” Mitsubishi Aircraft.

The duration of the government’s campaign to catch bribe-taking officials and their business cronies is probably the biggest question for manufacturers looking to China as a potentially enormous market. When showing off a jet is no longer asking to be investigated, the theory goes, buyers will come back.

Last year’s trend to move private jets off registration in mainland China is continuing this year, reinforced by the growing habit of not seeking a local domicile for new aircraft, industry officials say. These measures are probably helping volume or orders, but the companies that make business aircraft are still dealing with a market that was once an astounding opportunity but has run into the brick wall of the anti-graft campaign crackdown.