Worlds Largest General Aviation Plane Maker Gets Even Bigger

Cessna showed off its newest business jet, the Citation CJ4, at the recently concluded National Business Aviation Association conference last week, and was immediately rewarded with 101 orders.

The new seven-to-eight passenger bizjet will offer the strongest performance and payload balance in the CJ series with a cruise speed of 435 knots, but with another 14 orders for other jets, the total of 115 jets ordered at the NBAA show will gross Cessna a billion dollars for the fourth quarter of 2006. Counting pre-orders for other corporate jets, Cessna has already booked a total of 160 orders, and the quarter isn't even over yet.

“Results from this year’s NBAA show are nothing short of impressive,” said Lewis B. Campbell, Textron’s Chairman, President and CEO. Textron is the parent company of Cessna, along with Bell Helicopters and other aerospace businesses.

Cessna also unveiled its concept of a large cabin business jet and gathered feedback through the show from customers. Cessna has previously tested this concept just a few months ago in Oshkosh, Wisconsin on their smallest possible offering, the Light Sport Aircraft model.

If both the large cabin jet and the LSA go into production, Cessna claims that it will have, by far, the most comprehensive range of general aviation aircraft of any company in the world.

With that one billion dollar total jet order in its pocket, along with a thriving piston market for private pilots, you might say that Cessna is flying high right now.

FMI: www.cessna.com