Cessna has announced a second range boost for the segment-straddling Citation Latitude, pushing the jet more firmly between the industry standard performance for the super-light and midsize segments.
Latitude programme engineers received approval from Cessna management on 13 August to increase the range to 2,500nm (4,630km), international vice-president of sales Bob Gibbs said in a 17 August interview at LABACE.
The Latitude was launched last October with a maximum range of 2,000nm, a step below the standard of emerging super-light jets such as the Embraer 450.
By February, Cessna had revealed a range increase to 2,300nm, matching the performance of the latest of its super-light rivals.
But the Latitude's cabin length fits somewhere between the super-light and midsize segments, where the maximum range of the newest models typically is around 3,000nm.
The new range extension allows the aircraft to compete more directly for mission requirements in between the two segments.
Cessna has not yet revealed the maximum take-off weight of the Latitude, so it remains unclear how both range increases have affected that specification.
Source: Flight International
