Cessna is cutting jobs and slowing Citation business jet production after fractional ownership operator NetJets reduced the number of aircraft it plans to buy this year. Cessna has cut projected Citation deliveries for 2003 to 180-195 aircraft, down from 220. The company, which delivered 303 Citations last year, had already reduced deliveries from the 250 originally forecast. Cessna says it is still negotiating with NetJets, which has orders and options for 335 Citations.
Citation and Caravan production will be halted from 2 June to 18 July, and 6,000 employees furloughed. There will be more than 1,200 permanent job cuts, taking Cessna's workforce below 9,500, down from its recent peak of 13,500 in mid-2001. Gulfstream has announced 1,000 job cuts after cutting planned deliveries for this year from 85 aircraft to 77.
NetJets operated 513 aircraft and had 811 outstanding orders and options as of the beginning of March. These included 80 with Dassault, 242 with Gulfstream and 127 with Raytheon. Bombardier, with its own fractional ownership programme, Flexjet, is not exposed to NetJets. The US General Aviation Manufacturers Association says just under half the Gulfstreams for delivery in 2004, and all the aircraft in firm backlog for 2005 and beyond, are for NetJets.
Source: Flight International
