Nearly 1000 Airplanes Delivered

Cessna Aircraft Company concluded 2002 with the highest revenues in its 75-year history. Year-end deliveries totaled 946: 307 Citations, 80 Caravans and 559 Single Engine Piston aircraft. Sales revenues totaled $3.2 billion and the year-end order backlog stood at $4.9 billion.

"Although we are concentrating our efforts on the challenges of 2003, we would be remiss if we did not reflect on what can only be characterized as exceptional performance in 2002," said Russ Meyer (right), Cessna Chairman and CEO. "This has been a record year in practically every respect. In addition to our financial performance, we increased operating efficiencies, and met all our delivery commitments. We also introduced numerous after-market support programs to broaden our responsiveness to our customers. In that respect, we were proud to be rated number one among all business jet manufacturers in Professional Pilot's Corporate independent Aircraft Product Support survey.

"We expect 2003 to be a challenging year, but the Cessna team is focused on successfully resolving these short term challenges." To ensure future growth, Cessna introduced two new aircraft, the Citation Mustang and Citation CJ3. Unveiled at the NBAA convention in September 2002, Cessna has booked a substantial number of orders for both of these aircraft.

Other 2002 achievements include the celebration of Cessna's 75th anniversary; Citation Sovereign first flight; and delivery of the 1000th Grand Caravan 208B, 500th Citation model 525, 100th Citation CJ2, and 200th Citation X.

Upcoming 2003 milestones include the delivery of the 4000th Citation, FAA certification of the Citation Sovereign, and first flight of the Citation CJ3.

Cessna is part of Textron Inc., and does not release operating-unit financials in unconsolidated form.

FMI: www.cessna.com