Textron Aviation has marked the rollout of the 500th Cessna Citation Latitude business jet on 22 September 2026 from its manufacturing facility in Wichita, Kansas, a production milestone for what the company describes as the world’s best-selling midsize business jet.
Textron’s Wichita plant is the site where the Latitude has been assembled since it entered service in 2015. The aircraft is manufactured by Textron Aviation Inc., a subsidiary of Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT).
“The rollout of the 500th Citation Latitude is a testament to the employees who build this aircraft with dedication and pride every day. Behind every aircraft is a team committed to delivering the quality and craftsmanship our customers expect. This milestone is only possible because of the skill of our workforce and the trust customers continue to place in our products.”
Eric Cardinali, senior vice president, Manufacturing
The Citation Latitude is a midsize business jet with a stand-up, flat-floor cabin, six feet of headroom, and a four-passenger range of 2,700 nautical miles (5,000km) at high-speed cruise. Its take-off field length of 3,580ft (1,091m) is shorter than several rivals in its class, allowing operators to use runways that would not accommodate some competing types. The aircraft seats up to nine passengers, has a maximum cruise speed of 446 knots true airspeed and a full-fuel payload of 1,000lb.
“At Textron Aviation, we strive to design and deliver the best aviation experience for our customers, and the Citation Latitude is a powerful example of that commitment. Customers around the world continue to choose the Latitude because it delivers the comfort, versatility and value they need to accomplish their missions with confidence.”
Lannie O’Bannion, senior vice president, Global Sales & Marketing
The Latitude was announced at the National Business Aviation Association’s annual convention in October 2011, developed to sit between Cessna’s Citation XLS+ light jet and the larger Citation Sovereign. It was designed with an all-new, wider fuselage — the widest of any Citation to that point — to give it the flat cabin floor and six-foot stand-up height that distinguish it from smaller Citation models.
The aircraft first flew in February 2014 and was certified by the US Federal Aviation Administration in June 2015, with deliveries beginning that August. It is powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW306D1 turbofans, each flat-rated at 5,907lb of thrust, part of a PW300 engine family that Pratt & Whitney Canada says has powered more midsize business jets than any other turbofan line.
The Latitude has held the position of best-selling midsize business jet for several consecutive years, according to industry trade publications independent of Textron. Large operators, including fractional ownership provider NetJets, have taken sizeable numbers of the type into their fleets, and the aircraft has also been adopted for specialised roles, including air ambulance operations in Europe and, this year, flight inspection duties with the Japan Air Self-Defense Force.
The Latitude is one model within Cessna’s broader Citation family, which spans light jets through to larger midsize and super-midsize aircraft and has accumulated more than 7,500 deliveries worldwide. Textron Aviation also builds the Beechcraft, Hawker and Pipistrel brands, alongside turboprop, piston and special-mission and defence aircraft.
Textron Aviation is continuing to develop the next generation of its light jet range. The Cessna Citation CJ3 Gen3 completed its first flight in July, following the Citation M2 Gen3’s first flight in June, as the company works towards certifying an updated line of light jets alongside continued Latitude production. Wichita also marked a 500th-unit rollout for the smaller Citation CJ4 in June, of the CJ4 Gen2 variant.
A 500-unit production run is a genuine achievement in business aviation, where midsize jets typically deliver in the dozens per year rather than the hundreds. Reaching that number roughly a decade after certification reflects a sustained and consistent order book through a period that included a pandemic-driven surge in private aviation demand and the more recent normalisation of that surge as commercial travel recovered. That the Latitude has held its position as the most-delivered aircraft in its category for several consecutive years, rather than for a single strong year, is the more telling signal: the design has kept pace with a segment in which competitors have themselves been refreshed or replaced over the same period, and it has done so while remaining the benchmark rather than chasing one.
The midsize category the Latitude competes in occupies a valuable position in the business jet market. It brings flat-floor, stand-up cabin comfort within reach of operators who might not otherwise consider a larger super-midsize or long-range aircraft, while offering enough range to cover the great majority of domestic and regional intercontinental routes that make up the bulk of business jet flying. Fleet operators such as NetJets have built meaningful portions of their offering around the type for this reason, and its adoption into specialised government and medical roles in Europe and Japan speaks to a versatility that extends well beyond the core corporate-travel mission it was designed for — a useful sign of a platform’s underlying quality.
For Textron Aviation, the milestone also reflects strongly on the depth of its manufacturing base. Wichita remains one of the most significant concentrations of business jet production capacity anywhere in the world, and sustaining a 500-unit run on a single type across a decade — while simultaneously developing and flight-testing an entirely new generation of light jets — points to a well-resourced and forward-looking engineering operation. With the company continuing to invest in updated Citation variants rather than resting on the Latitude’s current design, the milestone looks less like a plateau than a strong staging point in a production story that Textron appears well placed to keep extending in the years ahead.
Photos by Textron Aviation.
