Citation Ascend Starts European Demonstration Tour

Textron Aviation today began a European demonstration tour with its Citation Ascend at the London-area Farnborough Airport. The aircraft, registered as N502XL, rolled off the production line in Wichita three weeks ago and was the first of the new midsize model to cross the Atlantic, with fuel stops in Gander, Canada, and Shannon, Ireland.

This month, the Ascend will be shown to prospective customers in the UK and Germany, as well as at multiple locations across Central and Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean region, and Scandinavia. It will make its international public debut at Aero Friedrichshafen, to be held April 22 to 25 in Germany.

According to Textron sales v-p Duncan Van De Velde, the U.S. aircraft manufacturer is hopeful that EASA will validate the jet’s FAA type certificate in the second quarter. Since the latest member of the Citation Excel/XLS family was launched at EBACE 2023 in Geneva, it has attracted multiple orders in Europe.

Van De Velde told AIN that multiple features introduced on the Ascend were proposed by members of Textron’s XLS customer advisory board. These include windows in the flat-floor cabin that are 15% larger, Bongiovi Aviation’s speakerless sound system, and a wireless phone charger built into a ledge on the side panels, as well as 19 USB ports and Gogo’s Galileo HDX connectivity system. Cabin acoustics have been improved with new door seals and curtains.

The flight deck features the Garmin G5000 avionics suite with three flight displays. This is new to the XLS family, which previously employed the Collins Pro Line 21 system. It also marks completion of the transition to all Garmin avionics on in-production Citation models.

The Ascend’s Pratt & Whitney Canada PW545D turbofans deliver 100 pounds of additional thrust per engine versus the PW545Cs on the earlier XLS/XLS+s. Carrying four passengers, the model can fly 1,940 nm, which Van De Velde said supports nonstop trips throughout Europe. The twinjet also features a Honeywell auxiliary power unit that can be left running while the crew helps passengers on the ground and completes other tasks at FBOs.