With certification still expected in the second quarter, Cessna rolled the first Citation Latitude to be delivered to a customer off the production line in Wichita, Kansas, on 29 January.
“Today the first one is rolling out of the factory on schedule. It’s a pretty exciting day,” says Ron Draper, senior vice-president of integrated supply chain for Textron Aviation, the parent of Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft.
Having accumulated 500 test flights since last February, the Citation Latitude programme is on track to achieve certification from the US Federal Aviation Administration in the second quarter and begin deliveries in the second half of next year, Textron Aviation chief executive Scott Donnelly said on a 28 January earnings call.
The first production Latitude model rolled out two weeks after one of two potential rivals – the Learjet 85 – was terminated by Bombardier, while partly citing weak demand for mid-sized business jets.
Asked about Bombardier’s pessimistic outlook by analysts, Donnelly did not appear to be worried of any recent market downturn across the full range of Cessna’s light and midsize jets.
“Frankly, over the last year or so, I would say there’s been kind of a stabilisation,” Donnelly says.
“So each of the products that’s out there in the marketplace has kind of achieved a price point and I think that’s been pretty stable over the last year or so. We’d like to see higher, obviously, but it’s a competitive marketplace.”
Cessna launched the Citation Latitude programme in October 2011, taking on the Embraer Legacy 450 in a category variously described as “super-light” or “light-midsize”.
“Our employees have been working a long time to put this together,” Draper says.
Powered by Pratt & Whitney PW306D engines, Citation Latitude offers a flat floor cabin for nine passengers and up to 2,700nm range on a nearly 3,700ft takeoff roll.
In terms of range and passenger space, the Latitude fits in a market segment between the Citation XLS+ and the new Citation Sovereign.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
