The big news from Cessna this week at AirVenture Oshkosh is obtaining ASTM approval for the Model 162 SkyCatcher LSA. But the company’s presence here at OSH — which is liberally sprinkled with Citation jets among the piston offerings — emphasizes its status as one of the remaining full-line aircraft manufacturers. And despite the recently announced suspension of its Citation Columbus program, Cessna’s jet business is doing about as well as can be expected, even with the double whammy of poor economic conditions and adverse publicity. “Even in this downturn, we’re continuing to look at what keeps our products fresh,” Gordon Vieth, Cessna’s vice president, Citation domestic sales, told AVweb this week, emphasizing his company’s commitment to all models, piston and turbine.
For example, Vieth told us, Citation Mustang personal jet production is sold out well into next year, with some 260 copies already delivered. Too, the company is in the final stages of developing the forthcoming Williams FJ44-powered CJ4, with FAA certification expected during Q4 2009 and initial customer deliveries set for early in 2010. According to Vieth, the CJ4 promises to improve on the CJ3’s popularity, with a larger cabin, slightly more speed and improved interior furnishings. Meanwhile, and although the Columbus project has been suspended, the company remains very interested in the market segment it targeted: large cabins and long range. “The business case is still credible,” Vieth told AVweb, but what it will look like when an industry turnaround is firmly in place is anyone’s guess. And that turnaround? Cessna is doing its part to ensure it happens sooner instead of later. The company is seeing its customers, not just the industry’s alphabet soup, step forward with positive stories of what an airplane can do to enhance productivity. “There’s a clearer definition of the roles” business aviation can play in hastening that turnaround, Vieth told us. Let’s hope so.
