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Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., which is building Japan’s first airliner since the 1960s, is in talks to buy Bombardier Inc.’s CRJ regional jet program to bolster its plane manufacturing ambitions.

Still, no decision has been made, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement Wednesday after Air Current reported that the negotiations were at an advanced stage. Air Current said an agreement may be announced as early as the Paris Air Show, which starts June 17.

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Bombardier confirmed that it was in discussions with Mitsubishi and that any agreement would be subject to further analysis by its own management and due diligence by the Japanese company. The Montreal-based company, the second-largest maker of regional jets, said there was no assurance that a deal would be reached.

An agreement would result in Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Heavy becoming the biggest challenger to Embraer SA’s commercial-plane business, which is in the process of being absorbed by Boeing Co. It would also help realize a goal the Japanese company has chased for more than a decade: breaking into the elite group of jetmakers.