Textron Aviation’s flagship Cessna Citation X+, currently the fastest civil aircraft, landed yesterday at TAG Farnborough Airport after a short flight from Paris Le Bourget. On Friday, the X+ crossed the Atlantic, flying 2,788 nm from Presque Isle, Maine, to Paris in five hours 33 minutes, averaging 502 knots groundspeed and burning 10,600 pounds of fuel.

This was the X+’s first trans-Atlantic crossing, and the flight was crewed by Textron Aviation chief pilot John Esping and senior demonstration pilot Mike Walton. Scott Ernest, Textron Aviation president and CEO, Kriya Shortt, senior v-p sales and marketing, and Brad Thress, senior v-p customer service, were the only passengers.

The X+ received FAA certification on June 26. Compared to the original Citation X, the X+ has a 15-inch longer fuselage, winglets, Cessna’s Clairity cabin management and entertainment system, new Garmin G5000 avionics with autothrottles, redesigned seats, dual-zone temperature control and more powerful 7,034-pound-thrust Rolls-Royce AE3007C2 turbofans. With a maximum speed of Mach 0.935 and range of 3,408 nm, the stretched X+ can carry up to 12 passengers.

After takeoff from Presque Isle, the X+, weighing about 500 pounds under maximum takeoff weigh, climbed directly to FL450. According to Esping, the original X would have had to stop the initial climb at FL430. The new X+ could have climbed to FL470 an hour after takeoff for a maximum-range trip, but Esping wanted speed during this flight. “We accelerated to Mach 0.86,” he said, slightly faster than the 0.84 to 0.85 achievable in the X. After reaching 30W longitude, the X+ was able to accelerate to Mach 0.88.

While the X+ doesn’t handle any differently that its predecessor, Esping said, he appreciated the autothrottles during the over-water leg, which maintain a constant Mach number with no need to fiddle with the throttles to follow an efficient profile. Esping said he also enjoys flying with the Garmin G5000 flight deck. “The displays are wonderful,” he said, and he finds it easy to control the avionics using the Garmin touchscreens, two for each pilot. “If you can use an iPad, you can use the touchscreens,” he observed.

Shortt enjoyed the comfort of the redesigned seats and also the X+’s Wi-Fi, which worked during the entire flight thanks to the Aircell Axxess SwiftBroadband satcom system.

Although certification of the X+ occurred slightly later than planned, Ernest said “I feel good about where deliveries are. It does help to have certification.” The added 15 inches of fuselage length “changes everything,” he said. “It’s got fantastic comfort and speed.”

After the Farnborough Airshow, the X+ will fly company trips around Europe then depart for the U.S., with the first leg from Farnborough to St. Johns, Newfoundland.