Cessna’s new Latitude and Longitude jets are in the works and making progress, company officials said this week at the European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition, in Geneva, Switzerland. The first prototype of the midsize Latitude is being assembled and should be flying early next year, said Cessna spokesman Terry Shriner. The super-midsize Longitude has completed wind-tunnel testing that confirms projections for a range of 4,000 nm cruising at Mach 0.82, Shriner said. The first flight of the Longitude prototype is projected for mid-2016, with FAA type certification in the latter half of 2017. Also, Cessna’s Kriya Shortt said the new Citation X should start deliveries by the end of this year.
Shortt said Cessna’s updated version of the Citation Sovereign, which flew in April, will start deliveries in the third quarter of this year. Cessna is expanding its customer-service teams in Europe, she said, in anticipation of a return to growth. “While the eurozone as a whole remains in recession, there are bright spots that give grounds for optimism,” she said. “Many economists expect Germany, a major business aviation market, to benefit from rising exports and domestic consumption in coming months. Similarly, the UK, long an important market, is enjoying a brighter outlook for growth and inflation, according to the Bank of England.”
