"This is a significant day for Cessna," said Trevor Esling, vice president, international sales, for Cessna. "The Mustang is ideally suited to the European market place and one third of our current order book is from European customers."

The Citation Mustang, recently named "Product of the Year" by The Aviation Consumer, became the first of a new category of entry-level jets to achieve both full U.S. Federal Aviation Administration type certification (September 8, 2006) and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification (May 21, 2007).

The six-place Citation Mustang has a top speed of 340 ktas (nearly 400 miles per hour), a range of 1,150 nautical miles (1,323 statute miles/2,130 km NBAA IFR Reserves) and a service ceiling of 41,000 feet (12,500 m) well suited for getting above most weather and commercial traffic.

"When Cessna announced the Citation Mustang, I saw it as the perfect opportunity for me to move up from my turboprop aircraft to a jet," said Howell. "One of the most important factors was the customer support and service capabilities that I knew I could expect in Europe from Cessna's service organization."

Cessna has booked more than 350 orders for the aircraft and has delivered 24 Mustangs from the Independence, Kan., facility since deliveries began earlier this year. The company is on track to deliver 44 aircraft in 2007 and plans to ramp up production to 150 Mustangs per year by 2009.

Based on unit sales, Cessna Aircraft Company is the world's largest manufacturer of general aviation airplanes. In 2006, Cessna delivered 1,239 aircraft, including 307 Citation business jets, and reported revenues of about $4.2 billion and a backlog of $8.5 billion. Since the company was originally established in 1927, more than 189,000 Cessna airplanes have been delivered to nearly every country in the world. The global fleet of almost 5,000 Citations is the largest fleet of business jets in the world. More information about Cessna Aircraft Company is available at http://www.cessna.com.

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