Honda Aircraft Company's HondaJet has received provisional type certification from the FAA.

“Attaining this for the HondaJet is tremendous, and we are pleased to reach this significant step toward customer deliveries and entry into service,” says president and ceo Michimasa Fujino.

FAA manager Melvin Taylor adds: “It is a pleasure for us to issue Honda a provisional type certificate for the HA-420. This speaks of the hard work put in by all the Honda and FAA staff working in a collaborative manner. We look forward to continuing this as we move to final completion of the HA-420 approval.”

The four HondaJets in the flight test fleet have performed as expected and flown more than 2,500 hours.

Production is now underway at Greenboro, North Carolina: the final assembly line is full with 12 aircraft and another five are in the production flow. Deliveries will commence following final certification.