Cessna Had A Good Year
Cessna Aircraft Co. shipped 654 single-engine piston aircraft and 64 Caravans in 2004, the company said on Thursday. Cessna also delivered 179 Citation jets and took orders for 330 more. “This has been a solid year for Cessna,” said CEO Jack Pelton. In 2004, the company introduced the G1000 glass cockpit in its Skyhawk, Skylane and Stationair lines; flew the PW615F engine destined for the Citation Mustang on a CitationJet test bed; and expanded its Cessna Pilot Center network to a total of 286 sites. Cessna also delivered the 150,000th Cessna single-engine piston aircraft since it started production in 1927. Cessna plans to hire 600 new workers in 2005. “Our outlook for growth in 2005 and beyond is increasingly positive as we see continuing expansion in our markets, particularly at Bell Helicopter and Cessna,” said Lewis Campbell, CEO of Textron, Cessna’s parent company. (Bell also had good news last week when the U.S. Navy chose a new helicopter — see below.)
