Cessna has added a tenth member to its Citation busines jet range with the launch of the Citation Ten. Justin Grey reports.
Following the mid-2009 cancellation of the Citation Columbus project, which was designed to be the largest and fastest Citation yet before falling victim to the global financial crisis, Cessna decided that an upgrade to the Citation X, the current flagship of the Citation fleet, was the right course to take instead of designing a completely new aircraft.
While the Citation Ten is essentially an advanced version of the Citation X rather than a clean sheet design, with a number of major additions as standard it really isn’t far off being its own aircraft. The jet will be the launch platform for the brand new Garmin G5000 avionics suite, which features three 14-inch LCD primary and multifunction displays and four touch-screen control panels, and will also feature a Cessna exclusive fibre optic-based cabin management system with the latest interface options for greater in-flight productivity and connectivity.
The aircraft features, amongst other things, a 15-inch longer fuselage for more cabin space, winglets for more efficient performance, a new electrical system, dual lithium-ion batteries, autothrottle, and a redesigned cabin with new interior seats and cabin appointments.
In comparison to the Citation X, performance of the Citation Ten will be enhanced with a 211 nautical mile increase in range at high-speed cruise, a 214-pound increase in maximum payload and a faster rate of climb direct to 45,000 feet.
The new Cessna jet will be powered by a pair of new Rolls-Royce AE3007C2 high-flow-fan turbines, each rated at 7034 pounds of thrust, giving the Citation Ten a four per cent improvement in take-off thrust, nine per cent improvement in climb performance, seven per cent improvement in cruise thrust and an additional 1.4 per cent improvement in specific fuel consumption.
The new Rolls-Royce power plants, due to be certified in 2013, will be essential in helping Cessna maintain its enviable title of producing the fastest civilian aircraft in the world. The Citation X, which can reach a top speed of Mach 0.92, has long held that accolade, however it’s now being challenged by the Gulfstream G650, which recently set an unofficial speed record by reaching Mach 0.995 during its flight-test program.
Steve Padgett, Managing Director of exclusive Australian Citation distributor Aeromil Pacific, is confident that there’ll be local interest in the Citation Ten, given that Aeromil has already sold a number of used Citation Xs in Australia to customers who were specifically after the winglets, which are an aftermarket option on the Citation X but will come as standard on the Citation Ten. And despite the sizeable price tag of approximately US$22 million – the same as the Citation X – Padgett anticipates adding a few Citation Tens to list of 60 Citations that Aeromil currently services in Australia.
“The top of the range is probably the region that there’s most interest in at the moment, believe it or not,” Padgett reveals. “Which is why Cessna are very keen on maintaining that interest and making sure they’ve got an aeroplane.
“I think effectively what you’re getting for the price of the Citation X is an aircraft with new engines, new avionics, new winglets, plus all these new interior design features. I’d say there’s going to be some interest in the aeroplane when it comes out.”
The first flight of the Citation Ten is scheduled for late 2011, with certification and first customer delivery in 2013.
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(Cessna)
