Jeffrey Decker looks at how Cessna is exploring its options by seeking your views.
The manufacturer with the largest sales figures is looking to make its largest cabin. Cessna’s Large Cabin Concept (LCC) debuted last autumn, and ever since they’ve been gauging interest in the widest and tallest jet the Kansas manufacturer might ever make.
If they build a jet around the mock-up that has toured the US, Geneva and Paris, Cessna will be giving an option above the Citation Sovereign and Citation X, carrying the customer loyalty that starts with piston aircraft beyond what they’ve yet offered, and confirming the rumours that have been heard for more than two years.
If produced, this jet will challenge the speed of the Citation Sovereign and aim for a price close to the Citation X.
Longer-range
“Cessna has the world’s most extensive business jet line, but many of our customers have indicated they would like to see a larger, longer-range jet in our product family,” Cessna CEO and president Jack Pelton says.
Pelton says they’ll decide by year’s end whether or not to go forward with a cabin as wide as 2.08m. That’s .4m wider than the Sovereign or the Cessna Citation X, without a walkway trench that’s customary in business aircraft. With strategy similar to the introduction of their Light Sport Aircraft proof-of-concept on the other end of their broad selection, Cessna gauged customer interest before they made the tough decisions. Customer surveys accompanied its introduction at the National Business Aircraft Association expo last fall, even asking how much customers would pay.
“We think this would be a logical extension to our product line, but we will not make that decision until we hear from our existing and potential customers and carefully evaluate the business case,” Pelton says. The surveys and public consideration of new products are part of what Pelton says is his intention to be more open with company operations. This brings in valued insight from customers on design and cost, and he believes it also pushes the design team to meet the goals they set.
Much of the preliminary design work has been completed. The mock-up on tour features seating for nine passengers, a large galley and toilet and a representative flight deck. A decision on cost could be made by October 31. The size of luggage space, avionics and the engine choice will not be defined unless Cessna launches the program, which would be a direct challenge to the Challenger 300, Challenger 605, Hawker 4000, Gulfstream G350 and the Falcon 2000EX.
The survey included diagrams of the features and characteristics of these aircraft compared to the LCC.
If they do produce a jet with this larger cabin, it will be on the heels of two new jets currently nearing the end of their design and certification process. Engineers continue to move Cessna’s two newest business jet programs toward service. The Citation XLS+, complete with full avionics system, is close to first flight, while the CJ4 design effort is well under way at the company’s engineering center in Wichita.
The CJ4 will offer the strongest performance and payload balance in the Citation CJ series and is configurable for seven to eight passengers in the main cabin.
Certification
The Citation XLS+, the latest version of the world’s best-selling business jet model, is expected to enter service in little more than a year. Certification is expected in the first quarter of 2008 with the first customer delivery in the last quarter of 2008 at a price of E8.53 million (US $11.595 million).
New features include the fully integrated Collins Pro Line 21 avionics suite and electronically controlled (FADEC) engines from Pratt & Whitney.
First flight of the CJ4 is scheduled for the first half of 2008 and entry into service is set for the first half of 2010. Since launching the programme prior to last year’s NBAA annual meeting in October, Cessna already has taken more than 110 orders for the new E5.9 million (US$8 million) jet.
Configurable for seven to eight passengers in the main cabin, the CJ4 is expected to have a full fuel payload of 453 kg (1,000lbs) and maximum payload of 952kg (2,100lbs), more than 136 additional kilograms (300lbs) compared to the typical CJ3. The CJ4 is expected to have a cruise speed of 806 km per hour (500 mph/435 ktas).
The newly engineered wing of the CJ4 is moderately swept. Some features of the wing are similar to the Sovereign, including the three upper speed brake panels on each wing, which allow the airplane to have the short field performance the CJ series is known for. The CJ4 can takeoff from runways as short as 1,006m (3,300ft.) and land on runways as short as 812m (2,665ft).
The new Williams International FJ44-4A electronically-controlled engine, which made its first flight aboard a test bed in early April, will debut on the CJ4.
The twin engines each provide 3,400 pounds of thrust, compared to 2,820 pounds of the CJ3’s FJ44-3A. The aircraft will be certified for operations up to 13,700 m (45,000ft.). The electric rudder and aileron trim are new features, as is single-point refueling for the aircraft.
Source: Flight Daily News
