Cessna Aircraft will acquire remaining 8% of the fractional aircraft operation now co-owned with TAG Aviation of Switzerland by yearend.

TAG has been steadily reducing its equity in the partnership, which began 10 years ago as 75/25 split between it and Cessna.

Meanwhile the operation has changed its name from CitationShares to CitationAir to reflect a changed business emphasis away from fractional activity to broader service offerings including aircraft management, charter and jet cards.

The changes were announced yesterday by Steve O'Neill, who heads the operation. He said that CitationShares/CitationAir has purchased 111 Cessna jets since its founding and that its fleet currently numbers 80 Citations of various models. He said the operation has 1200 regular customers who use the aircraft throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

He joked that a secondary reason for the name change was to put an end to calls from motorists wanting to know where to send fines for their parking citations, or from would-be investors seeking information about the mutual shares fund.