Bravo and Sovereign May Be Bound for London City

Cessna put a lot of effort into certifying the Citation Bravo for London City Airport, and preliminary performance data from flight testing of the much larger Sovereign indicate that it, too, can be certified for the short, noise-limited airport near London's financial district, according to Cessna chairman and CEO Gary Hay.

"We're pretty excited about the performance of the aircraft," he told Show News. It is consistently beating its performance targets, and has demonstrated that it could be certificated with a gross weight balanced field length of 3,600 to 3,700 ft. instead of the forecast 4,000 ft.

"If we can get approval for a steep angle approach, then we can get it into London City Airport," Hay said.

The London City capability has significantly helped Bravo sales in Europe, and was a condition of the order last year for 25 Bravos from NetJets fractional ownership program. The bulk of those aircraft are destined for Europe, he said.

"Europe is our second biggest market for business aircraft, and we plan to expand our Citation sales in Europe," Hay said. "One third of the fleet is ready to be replaced-and we're willing to help with that!"
Hay could not say much it cost Cessna to achieve London City certification "but it was quite an effort, and took four to five months." That is a good example, he added, of how Cessna tries to meet customer needs.

Another example is the effort by the Paris Citation Center to respond early to demands for kits to meet RVSM requirements. "We feel we're very much ahead of the industry in getting them out there," he said.