Cessna Aircraft Company has achieved another industry first. Tuesday marked the celebration of the 4,000th Citation delivery.

"When the first Citation flew on September 15, 1969, we knew we were introducing the industry to a new type of business jet. Over the past 34-years we have held to our belief that customers want a high quality business jet that is safe, reliable, and less expensive to operate.  Today, we are pleased to acknowledge the delivery of our 4,000th Citation, an Excel, to Franklin Davis, Director of Corporate Aviation at American International Group (AIG).

From the beginning, it has been our goal to provide every Cessna customer with the highest quality aircraft to meet their transportation needs. We intend to continue this tradition into the next century of flight," said Roger Whyte, Cessna's Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing.

AIG's flight department supports the company's domestic and international travel requirements. In 2002, AIG's flight department celebrated 50 years of accident-free service. AIG is the world's leading international insurance and financial services organization, with operations in approximately 130 countries and jurisdictions. AIG member companies serve commercial, institutional and individual customers through the most extensive worldwide property-casualty and life insurance networks of any insurer. In the United States, AIG companies are the largest underwriters of commercial and industrial insurance, and AIG American General is a top-ranked life insurer.

After introduction of the Cessna Citation at the 1968 National Business Aviation Association convention, the Citation quickly became a leader in the light to mid-size business jet aviation market. 

Today, Cessna claims the the most comprehensive line of business jets: Citation Mustang, Citation CJ1, Citation CJ2, Citation CJ3, Citation Bravo, Citation Encore, Citation XLS, Citation Sovereign, and the world's fastest business jet, the Citation X. The Citation fleet is based in over 75 countries, and is the largest in the world by a full 50 percent over the nearest competitor. The 4,000 Citations operating today have logged over 15 million flight hours.

FMI: www.textron.com, www.cessna.com