Summary

  • Cessna is renowned for producing top aircraft, including the popular Cessna 172 with a history dating back to the late 1920s.
  • The Cessna Citation Excel family has been a leader in flight hours for close to two decades, dominating the business jet market.
  • Recent upgrades to the Citation Excel family, like the new Citation Ascend model, promise enhanced technologies and performance.

Cessna is known for producing some of the most popular aircraft in the world. Specifically, Cessna is responsible for the Cessna 172, which has been produced more than any other aircraft. Cessna originally started producing aircraft in the late 1920s. The company began by producing small propellor aircraft. However, as the company grew and saw more success, Cessna began developing larger and more powerful aircraft, such as the Cessna Caravan, a high-wing, single-engine turboprop aircraft.

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Over 1,000 Delivered: Everything You Need To Know About The Cessna Citation Excel

The Cessna Citation Excel has remained in production since 1998 with an improving series of variants.

Eventually, Cessna entered the business jet market and began producing its Citation line of business jets in the 1970s. Since then, the Citation business jets have become some of the most-flown private jets in the world. This ranges from the Citation I to the newest certified jet, the Citation Longitude.

Cessna has created a wide variety of business jets in its Citation family. Let’s take a closer look at the most popular variant in terms of flight hours.

Most-flown Citation jet

The Citation Excel family is the Cessna Citation business jet that has been flown the most over the years. This includes the original Citation Excel, the Citation XLS, the Citation XLS+, and the soon-to-be-introduced Citation Ascend. Since its introduction, it has been one of the most-flown business jets each year. Per the Robb Report, the Citation Excel family of aircraft has held the title for most flight hours of business jets in 19 of the last 22 years.

This includes business jets of any size, meaning that the Citation Excel has been one of the most popular business jets for nearly 20 years. Last year, the Embraer Phenom 300 surpassed the Citation Excel family for the first time, although Citation Excel variants still accumulated over 350,000 total takeoffs and landings at United States-based airports.

A Closeup of a Cessna Citation Excel XLS flying in the sky.

Photo: BlueBarronPhoto | Shutterstock

Brief history

Cessna began conceptualizing a new midsize business jet in the early 1990s. Cessna saw success with another midsize business jet, the Citation VII, which was produced from 1983 to 2000, but wanted to incorporate new features. Some of these eventual improvements were discovered during the development of the Citation X, which would eventually become the world’s fastest business jet at the time. After some early developmental progress, Cessna officially unveiled the project, the Citation Excel, at the annual National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) convention in October 1994.

After an extensive design and build process, the first Citation Excel prototype flew for the first time in February 1996. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) awarded the aircraft its type certificate just over two years later, in April 1998. Cessna introduced the aircraft into service shortly after. The public response to the aircraft was extremely positive, and at the time of its introduction, Cessna had over 200 future orders for the aircraft.

A NetJets Europe Cessna 560 Citation Excel flying in the sky.

Photo: Vytautas Kielaitis | Shutterstock

Several years after the Citation Excel was introduced, Cessna began an upgraded variant of the aircraft. In 2004, Cessna introduced the upgraded variant, which was called the Citation XLS. This introduced the Honeywell Primus 1000 avionics suite. It also introduced upgraded Pratt & Whitney Canada turbofan engines.

In 2008, Cessna again introduced upgrades to the existing Citation XLS. The new upgraded aircraft was designated the Citation XLS+. This also introduced newly upgraded Pratt & Whitney Canada turbofan engines, which came complete with a full authority digital engine control (FADEC) system. The Citation XLS+ also came with a new Collins Pro Line 21 Avionics system. The most notable upgrade on this aircraft was the redesigned nose. The new nose resembled other, newer Cessna aircraft like Citation Sovereign.

A Cessna Citation Ascend flying above the clouds.

Photo: Textron Aviation

Finally, in May 2023, Cessna introduced its most-recent upgrade to the Citation Excel family. At the annual European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE), Cessna unveiled its newest variant, which was nicknamed the Citation Ascend. The new aircraft is expected to enter service in 2025, and it will feature a flat cabin floor, larger windows, a new avionics system, and an upgraded engine.

Notable performance measures

As previously mentioned, the Citation Excel family is a midsize cabin business jet. This means the jet can fit up to nine passengers, in addition to the two crew members. The aircraft can fit over 80 cubic feet of luggage externally, but can fit an additional 10 cubic feet of baggage inside the cabin.

Overall, the Citation Excel has the following dimensions:

  • Fuselage length: 52 feet six inches
  • Aircraft height: 17 feet two inches
  • Wingspan: 56 feet four inches

The newest variant of the Citation Excel family, the Citation XLS+, has the following performance measures:

Maximum takeoff weight (MTOW)

20,200 pounds

Useful load

7,400 pounds

Range

1,858 nautical miles (2,138 miles)

Cruise speed

441 knots (507 miles per hour)

Service ceiling

45,000 feet

Cessna chose Pratt & Whitney Canada PW500 turbofan engines to power the aircraft. Each upgraded variant featured a newer version of this turbofan engine, which included additional benefits like higher efficiency. The Pratt & Whitney Canada PW545C turbofan engine, which is used on the Citation XLS+, provides over 4,000 pounds of force for thrust. This allows the aircraft to reach a rate of climb of 3,500 feet per minute. The powerful engines also assist with the aircraft’s ability to land on fields that are just under 5,000 feet and take off on runways that are just over 4,000 feet.

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