Story ID: 341
Longitude Marking Asia-Pacific Debut at Singapore
By: Kerry Lynch
Caption: The aircraft is among a range of jets that underscore the company's push into new markets.
Word Count: 1055
Textron Aviation’s Citation Longitude is making its Asia-Pacific debut with a fully outfitted interior during this week’s Singapore Airshow. The Longitude’s arrival into Singapore is part of a busy tour for the model that will include international demonstrations, along with stops at nearly four dozen cities in the U.S.

The model on display (Static P7) kicked off the tour at the NBAA Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, last year.

As the aircraft was prepping to head to Singapore, Textron Aviation (Stand CD11) was in the final throes of certification for the model with approval expected “early this year,” the company said.

“The Longitude is in full swing,” Textron Aviation president and CEO Scott Ernest told reporters during a briefing this past fall. “We really feel good about how the Longitude is progressing.”

The aircraft will be the company’s largest to reach market—at least until the large-cabin Hemisphere follows—and its quietest with cabin decibels (dBa) more than meeting the company goal of 65 and reaching the low 60s in the forward cabin.

During its demonstration, Textron Aviation is highlighting the Longitude’s quiet cabin, which the company says can reach the equivalent noise level of an office or inside a luxury car.

Noting that market surveys revealed low cabin noise ranked at the top of the list for passengers, Ernest said, “We set out on the mission that this will be mid-60 from a decibel rating, and we achieved it. The team did a wonderful job in applying sound techniques and technology with this airplane. It’s so quiet you start to look for other noises to listen to.” And Textron Aviation believes the results are among an industry low.

Noise was so important, the company tasked a specific team dedicated to the cabin noise, Ernest said.

“Philosophically, we approached the design of the airplane from the occupant's ear outward,” added Brad Thress, senior v-p engineering. To reach dBas that dip to 61 or 62 in the forward cabin, “You really have to understand every single element in the airplane and the noise it produces.”

A primary element of design has been the customer experience, Thress said. This involved cabin comfort, a flat floor, and a stand-up cabin. “But noise is a huge piece of that.”

Beyond noise level, Rob Scholl, senior v-p sales and marketing, noted that the company paid attention to cabin comfort with a 77-inch-wide, 72-inch-high flat-floor cabin that provides 30 inches of legroom. The 3,500-nm-range airplane can fly at Mach 0.84 and carry a 1,600-pound payload.

Further, the company emphasized cost of ownership, with direct operating costs less than $2,000 an hour and maintenance intervals of 18 months/800 hours.

In anticipation of market entry, the company has assembled a dedicated team of field service engineers for Longitude customers, Thress noted, and added that an orientation pilot will accompany each delivery to assist with the transition into service.

As the aircraft has approached certification, Textron Aviation began to spool up production and by this fall, had already begun work on the 14th production model.
Jet Portfolio
The Longitude is among a bevy of Citations the company is bringing to Singapore that also includes the midsize Latitude and Sovereign+, as well as the light CJ4.

The portfolio of jets on display underscores a strategic move that Textron Aviation has undertaken to move into new markets as it works to increase its customer base. As a result, the company has already created a new billion-dollar business with the success of the Latitude.

The company surpassed the 100th delivery in a little more than two years after the first Latitudes reached customer hands in summer 2015.

“Two-and-one-half years ago this business didn’t exist at Cessna or Textron,” Ernest said, “and now it’s a billion-dollar business.”

The Latitude, which incorporates the widest and tallest cabin in the in-service Citation lineup, has eclipsed the M2 as the company’s most-delivered product currently in production, he noted, and said the program is building momentum as the fleet continues to grow, particularly on the international front. The company recently sold the first of the midsize models to a customer in the Philippines. With NetJets as a key customer—the fractional operator was scheduled to take 28 of the aircraft in 2017—it also is attracting fleet interest, he added.

“It’s hands down been a great program for us,” Ernest said. “In this space you have to make educated decisions on what the new products need to be. This is one where we made a really good decision.”

The decision to move forward with the Latitude came as Textron Aviation eyed a product line that pushed into new and/or larger aircraft categories, and it continues to do so. “We are investing several hundred million dollars a year back into new products, and that does afford you the opportunity to look at the market a little differently with respect to where you think the next product line needs to be,” Ernest said. “[This] may not be necessarily in a current product line you are in, but one that might be an available market [where] people haven’t invested in a while or [one that] might be getting a little tired."

The company spent the early part of the decade reinforcing its current customer base with product updates, he said. The question then became how to grow effectively outside the current base. “As you look forward with Longitude, Hemisphere, [single turboprop] Denali, and [light attack] Scorpion, those are all products in spaces where we don’t compete,” he said. “That can only help us with respect to the company’s ability to serve more customers and service more products.”

While the company is moving into new markets where other manufacturers have long built up brand recognition, Ernest said having new technologies in what can be a neglected space, along with an expansive support network, has opened doors.

This includes its Singapore service center, which supports Textron Aviation customers throughout the Asia-Pacific region. The facility further houses a parts depot for aircraft in the region.