Citation Sovereign closes in on full type certification

Cessna anticipates that its Model 680 Citation Sovereign super-midsize business jet will receive full type certification before the end of next month. On Christmas Eve the new aircraft received provisional certification, with flight into known icing the only major outstanding approval still pending. Cessna reports orders for about 100 aircraft.

At last year’s NBAA Convention, the Wichita-based manufacturer announced several performance improvements for the Sovereign, now priced at $13.523 million, including a 220-nm increase in range to 3,040 nm; a 0.02 increase in Mmo to Mach 0.80; and an increase in speed at FL450 from 399 ktas to 417 ktas. Times to climb are also one to three minutes better than originally published. The 30,000-pound-mtow Sovereign is powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW306C turbofans that each have a takeoff rating of 5,686 pounds of thrust.