Textron Aviation has celebrated the 45th anniversary of the first Cessna Citation delivery. 

The first Citation jet, a Cessna Citation 500, was delivered to American Airlines in January 1972, where it was used for the development of the company’s training programme. 

Since then, the Citation series has become the most popular line of business jets ever produced with more than 7,000 delivered to customers around the world. The worldwide fleet has amassed nearly 35 million flight hours.

“This milestone marking 45 years of industry leadership is really a celebration of the thousands of people through the years – customers and employees – who have made the Citation line of business jets the world leader,” said Kriya Shortt, senior vice president, Sales and Marketing. “In terms of customer satisfaction, aircraft value and performance, precision design, production quality and lifecycle customer support, nothing comes close to what the Cessna Citation family offers the global marketplace.”

Citation jets are renowned for their ability to combine reliability, efficiency and comfort with advanced technology and class-leading performance. This unique combination of features has resulted in a level of unparalleled quality Citation operators around the globe have come to know and value. The Citation series of business jets has evolved to offer an unmatched range of capabilities, systems and options that allows customers to expand their business reach.

Each Citation model is designed to strike an enviable balance between high performance, comfort and cost-efficient operation. No other family of business jets offers such a seamless progression of aircraft with extraordinary capabilities for customers. There are currently eight Citation models in production including the Citation Mustang, Citation M2, Citation CJ3+, Citation CJ4, Citation XLS+, Citation Latitude, Citation Sovereign+ and Citation X+. The company’s latest Citations in development include the super-midsize Citation Longitude and the Citation Hemisphere, Textron Aviation’s entry into the large-cabin market.