Citation Longitude Certification ‘Imminent’

Civil certification of Textron Aviation’s super-midsize business jet, the Cessna Citation Longitude, is “imminent,” according to company executives.

The first production aircraft used for promotional purposes made its way from Japan to Changi for the Singapore Airshow and is on static display throughout the show.

The Longitude is on a global promotional tour to drum up interest ahead of certification and service entry. The tour started in the U.S. with stop-offs in more than 30 cities, followed by an intercontinental hop to Japan and now Singapore. The next stop is Australia, followed by Europe, Textron says.

Textron has booked orders for the Longitude from an undisclosed customer, but it won’t say for how many. Deliveries will likely begin later this year.

The business jet is powered by two 7,600-lb.-thrust Honeywell HTF7700L engines and has an advertised range of 3,500 nm. The prototype made its debut in November 2015 at the National Business Aviation Association exhibition in Las Vegas. The fleet now numbers six, five of which are supporting the civil certification process in Wichita, Kansas.

Those aircraft are now finishing up avionics certification and ice testing. Technical certification for the Honeywell engine was achieved last year. “The engine is approved, so now we just need to finish the work with the airplane,” says Kevin Steinert, Textron Aviation’s senior manager of technical marketing.

ShowNews toured the aircraft on Feb. 6, guided by Steinert and Textron Aviation’s director of Asia-Pacific aftermarket sales, Rosa Lee Argotsinger.

“It’s a 6-ft. [1.8-meter] stand-up cabin; a clean-sheet designed airplane with the largest leg spacing in the class,” Steinert says. “It’s got more legroom than anybody else, and we remedied or mitigated any noise sources to make it the quietest cabin experience possible. And if you take long flights, you’ll stay under 6,000-ft. cabin altitude, well below any airliner.”

The Longitude is Textron’s midsize variant of the Cessna Citation family, which begins with the 2,700 nm-range Citation Latitude, of which more than 100 have been delivered. The upper segment will be filled by the 4,500-nm-range Hemisphere, which has an enlarged cabin for more comfortable long-range flying.