Cessna Aircraft Company, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, recently announced a 15% range extension expected for the company’s planned game-changing mid-size business jet, the Citation Latitude, scheduled to enter service in 2015.
Speaking at the Singapore Airshow, Trevor Esling, vice president, Sales for EMAA (Europe, Middle East, Africa & Asia), said specifications of the Citation Latitude had been revised to increase maximum range from 2,000 to 2,500 nautical miles (3,704 to 4,630km).
Esling said: “We have designed this aircraft to meet the evolving and demanding requirements of business flyers – comfort, in-flight productivity and the convenience of using airports with runways as short as 3,900 feet (1,189 metres). The extended range of the Citation Latitude adds the benefit of non-stop flights between, for example, Singapore and cities such as Shanghai, Perth and Mumbai.”
Announced in October 2011, the Citation Latitude will offer Cessna’s widest-yet passenger cabin with stand-up access throughout its length of more than 16 feet. Billed as a game-changer in the mid-size segment, the Citation Latitude combines the payload, speed and range that customers want with an unmatched cabin experience at its price point ($14.9 million in 2011 USD). Scheduled for its first flight in mid-2014 and designed for a crew of two plus up to eight passengers, the aircraft will have a maximum altitude of 45,000 feet (13,716 metres) and a maximum cruise speed of 442 knots (819km/h). It will climb to 43,000 feet (13,106 metres) in just 23 minutes.
The Citation Latitude features the fully integrated Garmin G5000 avionics system and Clairity™, an intelligent cabin technology solution developed by Cessna in partnership with Dallas-based Heads Up Technologies. Clairity™ ties into the avionics system and integrates cabin electrical systems with data and communication sharing through a fibre optic backbone. Cabin systems are controlled either through intuitive touch-screen user interfaces at each seat, or customers’ personal electronic devices.