GRAHAM WARWICK / WASHINGTON DC
Wichita loses out as Cessna chooses lower-cost plant to assemble high-volume, price-sensitive entry-level jet
Cessna is to assemble the Citation Mustang entry-level business jet at its single-engine piston aircraft plant in Independence, Kansas. Lower-cost Independence was selected over Wichita, Kansas - where all other Citations are built - because the assembly process for the high-volume, price-sensitive Mustang will be different from that for customised business jets, the manufacturer says.
Cessna says it narrowed the choice of final-assembly site to Independence and Wichita, both plants with excess capacity, after looking at all of its existing facilities. Wings for the aircraft will be produced at the company's Columbus, Georgia parts-fabrication plant. Certification and first deliveries of the Mustang are planned for late 2006.
Piston-single production was restarted at the purpose-built Independence plant in 1996, but has never achieved the 2,000 aircraft a year output originally projected. The company delivered 588 aircraft last year, and will this year deliver its 5,000th piston single since restarting production.
Over the past three years Cessna has reduced its workforce at Independence from 950 to about 350 people, and it expects to have added around 500 employees by the time the Mustang reaches full production. Cessna anticipates production rates will be higher for the $2.3 million Mustang than for other, more expensive members of the Citation family. Excess capacity at Wichita will be needed for the Citation CJ3 and Sovereign, deliveries of which begin this year, as well as future products, the company says.
At the end of 2003 Cessna had a firm orderbook for 209 Mustangs, worth $527 million. The manufacturer's backlog also included 122 of the $5.9 million CJ3 light jets and 106 of the $14.5 million mid-size Sovereigns, as well as 56 of the $10 million super-light Citation XLSs, deliveries of which begin later this year. The first production CJ3 rolled off the Wichita assembly line this month.
Source: Flight International
