Cessna ’Ready To Go’ on Large Cabin Bizjet

Cessna Aircraft chairman, president and CEO Jack Pelton said his company is internally moving on the Large Cabin Concept airplane as if it’s a “go program,” meaning Cessna is spending real money on the design and has begun vendor selection for the company’s largest business jet to date. “Had the show been later in the year, we definitely would have launched the Large Cabin Concept [LCC] airplane here at the NBAA Convention,” he told AIN. “We’re ready to go.” The Wichita aircraft manufacturer unveiled the LCC cabin mockup and revealed basic details about the twinjet at last year’s NBAA show, but has yet to green-light the project. An official launch decision is “definitely” scheduled for the first quarter, and the Cessna chief is “99.9 percent sure” that the LCC will indeed be launched. “The launch really is an issue of timing for us,” he noted. Provided that the go-ahead is given early next year, Pelton said the LCC will enter service in late 2013. Preliminary specifications of the LCC include a Mach 0.80 cruise speed and 4,000-nm NBAA IFR range.