Cessna Aircraft Company unveiled a new Citation Columbus concept mock-up reflecting progress to date and two years of research into customer preferences on the opening day of the National Business Aviation Association Meeting and Convention.
“This next-generation mock-up represents a departure from conventional Cessna design, exploring concepts based on customer input collected during the global tour of our first conceptual design unveiled at NBAA 2006,” said Jack J. Pelton, Cessna chairman, president and CEO. “From the more fully developed cockpit to the full-size baggage compartment, our Cessna interior design team has done a phenomenal job of synthesizing the market feedback from the recent tour. The result is a flexible, functional and very chic interior.”
Cindy Halsey, vice president, Interior Design, Engineering and Development, said the strategy in designing the Columbus interior remains keeping the configuration flexible. Since Cessna’s interior design is all handled by its in-house design team, customer comments are more direct and immediate.
“In an aircraft this size, personalization is critical to customer satisfaction, so our design team made flexibility a top priority,’” Halsey said. “Of course, everything inside this mock-up will have to meet the same rigorous certification standards as any other aircraft, and it has to ‘win’ its way onto the program as being the best and most useful technology demanded by our customers.
Cessna launched the Columbus program earlier this year and holds more than 70 orders for the aircraft, priced at $27 million (2008 price). The Citation Columbus is expected to be the only aircraft in its class capable of 4,000 nautical miles (7,408 kilometers) non-stop at Mach .80. Preliminary performance numbers set a maximum cruise speed of 488 knots (904 kilometers per hour, Mach .85), a maximum operating speed of Mach .86, a full fuel payload of 1,950 pounds (886 kilograms) and takeoff field length of 5,400 feet (1,646 meters) at maximum takeoff weight.
The Citation Columbus is expected to gain full certification in 2013 and enter service in 2014.

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