Cessna is planning to launch a new family of "wide cabin" light business jets to address what it calls "a lack of differentiation between products" in this market sector.
The Wichita-based airframer has not disclosed a launch time-frame but says it is focusing on "getting the concept right from the beginning", says Brad Thress, Cessna's senior vice president, business jets. "We don't yet know what that means in terms of range and cost but our aim is distinguish our products from the competition," he adds.
Cessna is debuting at the show a light jet cabin concept with which it is hoping to gather "invaluable" feedback" from existing customers during the three-day event. "A marketing team will ask customers a range of questions about the concept and what they are looking for in an aircraft within this sector. This is an ideal opportunity for us to produce an innovative product for this market place," says Thress.
After the show, the "stimuli" will be displayed at Cessna's Wichita service center - the largest in its network - from where the manufacturer will continue to court customer feedback.
"While our light jets - the CJ2+, CJ3 and CJ4 - are very popular we need more spread between each of the models," Thress adds. "There is only a 400nm range between each aircraft and price differential between the CJ2+ and the CJ4 is is around $2 million," he explains.
The key drivers of Cessna's future light jet family are a larger cabin, modern avionics, improved efficiency and direct operating costs. "We will have an organized replacement strategy," Thress continues. "We will either shrink or stretch the aircraft depending on which end of the line we start."
Source: Flight Daily News
