Wichita, Kan., April 28, 2008 – Employees at Cessna Aircraft Company, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, celebrated the roll out of the first production Citation XLS+ on Friday at the company's primary design and manufacturing facilities in Wichita. The XLS+ is the latest version of the world's best-selling business jet model.

The first production unit now will go to paint and interiors, while two flight test aircraft continue to work toward type certification. Federal Aviation Administration certification is expected by mid year, with deliveries starting before the end of 2008.

The upgrade to the mid-size Excel/XLS will feature the fully integrated Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics suite and electronically controlled (FADEC) engines from Pratt & Whitney Canada. Exterior and interior restyling is also integrated into the new model, most prominently the extended contour of the nose and expanded seat widths, both introduced to more closely resemble Cessna's Citation X and Citation Sovereign models.

The Citation XLS+ will travel as fast as 440 knots, have a range of more than 1,800 nautical miles and land on runways as short as 3,180 feet at its maximum landing weight, 2,700 feet at its typical landing weight.



Based on unit sales, Cessna Aircraft Company is the world's largest manufacturer of general aviation airplanes. In 2007, Cessna delivered 1,272 aircraft, including 387 Citation business jets, and reported revenues of about $5 billion. Cessna has a current backlog of $14.5 billion. Since the company was originally established in 1927, some 190,000 Cessna airplanes have been delivered to nearly every country in the world. The global fleet of more than 5,100 Citations is the largest fleet of business jets in the world.

News Release Cessna April 28, 2008