Story ID: 
Cessna Exceeding Order and Delivery Expectations
By: Gordon Gilbert
Caption: Cessna booked orders for 71 Citations in the third quarter, bringing the order book to just under 230 for the first nine months of this year, according to 
Word Count: 185
Cessna booked orders for 71 Citations in the third quarter, bringing the order book to just under 230 for the first nine months of this year, according to the company’s earnings report released this morning by the manufacturer’s parent company, Textron. Cessna delivered 61 Citations in the third quarter of this year compared with 41 a year ago and one higher than its forecasted range of 55 to 60. The company is planning on delivering between 240 and 245 Citations this year compared with 181 shipped in 2004. Earlier this year Cessna predicted deliveries next year would be in the 270 to 290 range. “We have been working with our supply chain and we are now comfortable with the high end of that range–290–for next year,” said Textron chairman, president and CEO Lewis Campbell. “For 2007, Cessna already has 210 orders, including about 50 for the Mustang. If you would have said that we were going to have that many orders in 2007 when we began this year, I would have said no.” According to Campbell, “You can’t get a CJ1+ or a CJ2+ until the second quarter of 2007 or an XLS until the fourth quarter of 2007.”