Textron Aviation has delivered its 8,000th Cessna Citation, the airframer announced today. The milestone aircraft, a Citation Longitude, was delivered at a special ceremony at the OEM’s headquarters in Wichita to customer Scotts Miracle-Gro. The super-midsize twinjet is the fifth Cessna Citation in the lawn-and-garden product manufacturer’s fleet.
“I, along with the members of our flight department, congratulate Textron Aviation on the delivery of its 8,000th Citation aircraft,” said Scotts CEO Jim Hagedorn, who personally owns a Citation CJ4 and is a former U.S. Air Force F-16 pilot. “Reaching this milestone is a credit to the Cessna brand.”
The first Citation 500 was delivered in 1972 to American Airlines. Since then, more than 30 Citation models have been certified over the more than 50-year history of the brand. Six Citation models are in production, representing the light, midsize, and super-midsize categories of business jets: M2 Gen2, CJ3+, CJ4 Gen2, XLS Gen2, Latitude, and Longitude.
“A milestone like this wouldn’t be possible without all the owners and operators who love to fly our aircraft,” said Textron Aviation president and CEO Ron Draper. “With more than 41 million flight hours across the globe, our customers continue to make Citation jets their aircraft of choice.”