Cessna is upping the performance specifications once again for its Citation Latitude as it prepares to bring the aircraft to market. Scott Ernest, CEO of parent company Textron Aviation, said the company has completed flight-testing and hopes to win U.S. certification by the end of the month. European Aviation Safety Agency certification is to follow by year end.
Cessna will bring the $16.25 million Latitude to market with a long-range cruise range of 2,850 nm, high-speed cruise range of 2,700 nm and a takeoff distance of 3,580 feet. This marks a 150-nm improvement over the performance boost announced in October–then the third such improvement announced by Cessna. Takeoff distance is shortened to 3,580 feet, compared with the previously announced 3,660 feet. And high-speed cruise improves to 2,700 nm. The final range is 35 percent greater than the original projected range of 2,000 nm when Cessna unveiled the aircraft in 2011.
Ernest did not provide backlog specifics, saying only that “customer response has been strong and continues to grow.” Nor did he say how many the company hopes to deliver this year. But delivery to launch customer NetJets is anticipated in the third quarter. NetJets in 2012 ordered up to 150 of the Citation Latitude, including firm orders for 25.
Certification culminates a flight-test program that began in February 2014 and has involved four test aircraft that flew a collective 1,700 flight hours. The aircraft, making its European debut on static display here at EBACE, incorporates the widest cabin of any Citation, incorporating a flat floor. It is equipped with Garmin G5000 avionics, which also is on Cessna’s new Citation X+ and the Citation Sovereign+.
While Cessna brings the Latitude to market, Ernest said the company continues to ramp up on the Citation Longitude program. Cessna has conducted a design review of the Longitude, which was originally unveiled in 2012, and expects to provide details on the new jet during this fall’s National Business Aviation Association convention.
Ernest added the company has incorporated a “significant amount of customer feedback” into the design of the aircraft.
Ernest reported that design is well advanced on the new model, and the company has cut metal for the first aircraft. The company expects to begin flying the aircraft in 2016 and bring it to market in 2017. The Longitude is expected to become the largest model in the Citation lineup.
Cessna affiliate Beechcraft, meanwhile, is in the final throes of testing with Rockwell Collins on the new Fusion avionics suite for the King Air product line (see related article on page 10). The new flight decks will first come to market on the King Air 250. Deliveries are expected to begin in the third quarter. This will be followed by deliveries of Fusion-quipped King Air 350is in the fourth quarter and C90GTX in early 2016. o
