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Cessna Aircraft Company, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, announced today that the production for the Citation Latitude aircraft, first announced in October 2011, is on schedule and making progress toward completion of full airframes this year. The next generation in business travel, the Latitude, with a maximum range of 2,500 nautical miles (4,630 kilometers), is designed to provide the most open, spacious, light, and refined cabin environment in this category of aircraft. The aircraft will deliver a clean, contemporary environment for a crew of two plus up to eight passengers, will have a maximum altitude of 45,000 feet (13,716 meters) and a maximum cruise speed of 440 knots (815 kilometers per hour). It will climb to 43,000 feet (13,106 meters) in just 23 minutes. “We’ve started building engineering test articles. The first prototype is expected to fly in Q1 2014,” said Terry Shriner, business leader for the Citation Latitude. “We’ve moved from engineering, analysis and modeling to cutting metal and driving rivets. The team is always energized when we see an airplane begin to take shape for the first time.” To build experimental units for testing, Cessna is using production tooling. During this phase, improvements will be identified and incorporated into the tooling and assembly methods before line production begins in 2014 to continue to ensure on-schedule deliveries and support the expectation of high-quality finished aircraft. The first airframe is planned for testing cyclic fatigue; the second for static testing. Beginning this month, the Citation Latitude mock up will take off for visits in 19 cities including:
“Customers are already excited to get a glimpse of the Citation Latitude,” said Shriner. “The Latitude’s value is outstanding, especially in a coast-to-coast mission.” |