Milestone 7,000th Cessna Citation Delivered to NetJets

Textron Aviation delivered the first fractional Cessna Citation Latitude to NetJets yesterday during a ceremony at the aircraft manufacturer’s headquarters in Wichita. This midsize jet also represents the 7,000th Citation delivered worldwide, a milestone reached some 44 years after the first customer Citation I entered service.

Yesterday’s delivery of N501QS fulfills one of NetJets’ firm order for 25 Latitudes, though NetJets has been operating two demonstrator aircraft throughout the U.S. and Europe to showcase the new jet to NetJets owners ahead of the aircraft entering its fleet. Due to owners’ positive response to the Latitude, NetJets announced yesterday that it has added 50 more options to its initial order placed in 2012, bringing its total order and options up to 200 aircraft.

NetJets’ first Latitude is expected to enter service next month and will be part of the fractional provider’s North American fleet that includes four other Cessna models—the Citation Encore/Encore+, Citation Excel/XLS, Citation Sovereign and Citation X.

Textron Aviation began Latitude deliveries in August and has delivered 23 to customers around the world through the first quarter, it said.