Wichita, KS - January 27, 2005 - Cessna Aircraft Company ended 2004 with deliveries totaling 897 aircraft: 179 Citations, 64 Caravans and 654 single engine piston aircraft. Cessna concluded the year with a remarkable 63 Citation deliveries in the fourth quarter compared to 48 one-year ago. In addition, over 330 Citation orders were received in 2004. Year-end sales revenues totaled $2.5 billion and the order backlog stood at $5.4 billion.
"This has been a solid year for Cessna," said Chairman, President and CEO Jack J. Pelton. "We laid the foundation that will help ensure future growth for the remainder of the decade. In addition to exceeding our 2004 aircraft delivery and order goals, we also refreshed our product line by announcing two new Citations. We also began deliveries of three newly certified Citations and four newly certified single engine airplanes. These new product announcements and deliveries are a testament to Cessna employees' commitment to innovation and growth.
"Looking forward, we expect to deliver approximately 235 Citations in 2005. Of these, we've taken orders for 223 Citations. The order book for 2006 is also strong with approximately 185 Citation orders already accepted."
Achievements in 2004 include the certification and delivery of the Citation CJ3, XLS and Sovereign; certification and delivery of the G1000 equipped 182T Skylane, T182T Turbo Skylane, 206H Stationair, and T206H Turbo Stationair; grand opening of company-owned Citation Service Centers in Orlando, Florida, and Wichita, Kansas, which increased hangar capacity by 42 percent; consolidation of CitationShares, whereby Cessna assumed 75 percent ownership with TAG retaining a 25 percent stake; first flight of the Citation CJ1+; first flight of the Citation Mustang's PW615F engine on a CitationJet test bed; ratification of a new three-year contract with International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM); FITS approval of the G1000 training program; expansion of the Cessna Pilot Center (CPC) network to 286 CPCs, which is the highest number of affiliates in the past three years; introduction of the 172 Skyhawk equipped with G1000 avionics; delivery of the 150,000th Cessna single engine piston aircraft since production began in 1927; delivery of the 5,000th single engine aircraft since restart of single engine piston aircraft production in 1996; delivery of the 200th Citation CJ2; and announcement of the 5th Citation Special Olympics Airlift.
Cessna Aircraft Company is a subsidiary of Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT). Textron is a $10 billion multi-industry company with 44,000 employees in 40 countries. The company leverages its global network of aircraft, industrial and finance businesses to provide customers with innovative solutions and services. Textron is known around the world for its powerful brands such as Bell Helicopter, Cessna Aircraft, Kautex, Lycoming, E-Z-GO and Greenlee, among others. More information is available at www.textron.com or www.cessna.com.