And Showed Off Some New Technology
Textron says its Cessna Aircraft and
Bell Helicopter divisions did some pretty darn good business at
last week's NBAA convention in Las Vegas.
During the show, Cessna unveiled its two newest aircraft: the
Cessna Citation CJ1+ and CJ2+ --which represent the next
generations of the company's popular Citation CJ1 and CJ2 lines of
light business jets. The CJ1+, the successor to the market-pacing
Citation CJ1, offers customers heightened performance, new
integrated avionics and a host of enhanced features and standard
equipment. The CJ2+ provides customers with the most advanced
avionics suite in its class, as well as increased payload, an
upgraded engine and a variety of enhanced standard features.
In total, Cessna received 41 customer orders for its Citation
business jets. The company also booked six customer orders for
Caravan turbo-prop aircraft and, before the show's official start,
the company pre-sold 22 orders for the newly announced CJ2+
aircraft. These orders were included in the company's third quarter
backlog.
Bell Helicopter booked 12 customer orders for aircraft across
its commercial helicopter line -- largely for its popular 427i
model, introduced earlier this year, and for the fast-selling Bell
407 and 430 models.
"Cessna once again led new product announcements at NBAA in the
small to mid-size business jet market. In addition, Bell also saw
the best sales results in more than five years at the show," said
Lewis B. Campbell, Textron's Chairman, President and CEO. "Our
success at this year's event not only reflects significant
improvements in two of our most critical end-markets, but
represents the passion, innovation and ingenuity of literally
thousands of Textron employees who design, build and market
aircraft and related products that consistently exceed customer
needs and expectations."
Cessna's CJ3 Outdoes Itself On Performance
Cessna announced updated performance figures for its new
Citation CJ3, which substantially outperformed the originally
published - already impressive - estimated specification numbers
unveiled at the CJ3's launch in 2002. In a related post-show
announcement, Cessna also announced that it has received final type
certification from the FAA for the Citation CJ3.
Cessna unveiled plans to launch its fifth massive Citation
Special Olympics Airlift - the largest peacetime airlift in the
world. Cessna expects the 2006 Citation Special Olympics Airlift to
include 400 Citations that will transport more than 2,500 Special
Olympics athletes and coaches across the nation to the 2006 Special
Olympics US National Games at Iowa State University, July 3-8,
2006.
Cessna announced its new line of "CES" customer support programs
designed to make owning and maintaining Citation business jets even
easier. Each of the new CES offerings was designed using input from
cross-functional disciplines at Cessna, the FAA, and from a variety
of Citation owners and operators. The new CES support programs are
available exclusively for Cessna customers.
Cessna announced that its Citation Service Centers in Wichita,
KS and Orlando, FL have more than doubled in size this year, as
Cessna has invested more than $100 million to open more than
600,000 additional square feet of new hangar and office space
dedicated to the support of the growing Citation fleet.
Cessna reported that it has begun the assembly of the first
Citation Mustang fuselage on production tooling at its Pawnee
facility in Wichita (KS).
Cessna also unveiled several feature upgrades and improvements
across a number of its aircraft, including an enhanced vision
system (EVS) for the Citation Excel and Citation XLS; the continued
rollout of Cessna's Citation Performance Calculator (CPCalc) for
Encore, Excel, CJ1 and CJ2 operators; and the addition of an AMSAFE
Inflatable Restraint System to new single engine aircraft beginning
in 2005.
Big Business For Bell
Bell announced that it has won the
US Customs and Border Protection solicitation for twin turbine
helicopters to help support critical homeland security missions,
resulting in a contract award estimated at $164 million to provide
Bell 430 helicopters. Bell also reported that, with this contract,
the company has won two out of three US Federal Government
helicopter competitions this year. The second was for the delivery
of three Bell 407s to the US Drug Enforcement Agency.
Bell introduced its "Fly Smart" Member Program, to assist
customers in the management of costs associated with the operation
of their aircraft. The first offering includes a unique parts plan
that provides fixed, monthly parts costs for customers'
helicopters, resulting in the ability for customers to plan parts
expenditures months - even years - in advance.
Bell reported that the Bell 407 worldwide fleet of 605 has
logged in an excess of 1,170,00 flight hours, and that the two
aircraft leading the fleet have surpassed the 10,000-hour mark.
Bell reported that its new tail fan demonstrator helicopter has
successfully completed a round of critical high altitude
flight-testing in Leadville (CO). The demonstrator is being used to
explore the flight characteristics of a protected, low-noise
anti-torque device intended for use on Bell's upcoming Modular
Affordable Product Line (MAPL) of light helicopters.