Cessna Aircraft Company, a subsidiary of Textron Aviation Inc., a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, announced today that its new Citation X+ and Citation Sovereign+ models are on track to gain certification from the Civil Aviation Administration of China in early 2015. The Citation X+, the world’s fastest business jet, is making its first appearance in China in conjunction with Airshow China.
“Both the Citation X+ and Sovereign+ are extremely well-suited for the China market as they combine excellent performance, large cabin comfort, and superb acquisition and operating costs,” said Scott Ernest, Textron Aviation president, and CEO. “They both have a range in excess of 3,000 nautical miles, which means the whole of Asia is one flight away.”
The Citation Sovereign+, certified in the United States in December 2013, and the Citation X+, certified in June 2014, are larger members of the world’s most popular line of business jets, the Cessna Citation family. Both aircraft boast large stand-up cabins, advanced cockpit systems designed to meet global, 21st-century airspace management requirements, and Cessna proprietary passenger cabin electronics that offer unrivaled productivity and communication.
The new Citation X+ has seating for up to 12 passengers, a maximum operating altitude of 51,000 feet (15,545 meters), an unmatched maximum speed of Mach 0.935, and an increased range of 3,408 nautical miles. The range of the Citation X+ gives operators the ability for direct flights from Beijing to New Delhi, Singapore to Tokyo, Shanghai to Darwin, or Hong Kong to Dubai.
Also featuring a large cabin for up to 12 people, the Citation Sovereign+ has a range of 3,188 nautical miles (5,904 km), a top speed of 460 knots (852 kilometers/hour) and a direct climb to 45,000 feet (13,716 meters).
