Cessna Citation Longitude aircraft, the super-midsize jet designed and manufactured by Textron Aviation, surprises travellers with the quietest cabin in its class, the Bongiovi Sound System, the expected maintenance intervals longest in its class, and much more.
Images courtesy of © Textron Aviation Inc.
As people are looking to fly again with greater intensity during and after the pandemic, whether for business or pleasure, a focus on flights affording greater privacy has also emerged, with travellers wanting to move quickly and comfortably between airports. This has resulted in an uptick in demand for the purchase of next-generation aircraft ensuring efficient and responsible use. A mix of demand involving in particular the super-midsize jet category, which proves to be most appealing also to new owners just starting out.
Among the interesting routes to be studied is the Cessna Citation Longitude aircraft, the super-midsize jet designed and manufactured by Textron Aviation, a leader in building business jets. Its design and on-board hospitality allow up to twelve passengers to travel comfortably in its 7,67m (25 ft 2-inch) cabin length, with a transcontinental range of up to 3500 nautical miles when travelling in 4 pax, reaching a max cruise speed of 483 ktas (Knots True Airspeed). Ideal for a business team and extended family.
With its 1.83 m (72-inch) cabin height and 1.96 m (77-inch) cabin width, Cessna Citation Longitude features one of the best quietest interior experiences in the super-midsize category, coupled with comfort, relaxation and stretchout capabilities, thanks to its 30 inches of legroom in a 6-foot-tall, flat-floor cabin.
Its 1,600 lb full fuel payload range allows it to cross the Atlantic Ocean from Teterboro to Paris in just under 7 hours, reach Sidney from Singapore in about 7 hours and 30 minutes and fly from London to Dubai in about 6 hours and 30 minutes, being destinations of fast-moving global business or holiday trips to embark upon well rested and with the right enthusiasm. Indeed, as underlined by Duncan van de Velde, upcoming Regional Vice President of Sales in Europe, “we have customers flying non-stop to Dubai and back on the Longitude from Eastern Europe”.
Advanced technology allows the Longitude to fly through a variety of weather conditions without increasing pilot workload. The ice detection system, for instance, automatically detects icing conditions and informs the crew when the ice protection systems must be activated.
Space on board has been designed with style to meet diverse flight needs. It can be customised with different configurations and extras depending on whether you travel for business, pleasure or both.
In this regard, Christi Tannahill, Senior Vice President of Customer Experience, highlights that “with all our new product developments – including the Cessna Citation Longitude – the interiors are based around customer feedback. The Longitude is a great example. It has comfortable seats, large windows, ample legroom and the quietest cabin in its class. We received valueable customer feedback which was used as an integral part of the Longitude design process”. And she continues affirming that “Customers have been an integral part of our entire process – from concept, through design to certification”.
This obsession with customers’ needs resulted in 15 large cabin windows being created. Their positioning makes it possible to admire the view above and below the clouds and capture plenty of light, which comes in handy for on-board productivity if on a business trip. The wireless cabin management system, including Bluetooth capability and Bongiovi Sound System, a speakerless immersive sound system, are yet other features in cabin comfort.
The exceptionally quiet interior showcases a double-club configuration to provide more legroom while ensuring passengers in-flight comfort at a high standard for its category, with seats designed and built in-house that are fully articulated to afford the utmost mobility.
An on-board galley finished with fine wood positioned in the bow proves extremely functional for food preparation and beverage serving, ensuring cabin service that matches its flight class. The pantry and large cabinets store enough supplies for lunches, dinners or last-second snacks, as well as wine glasses suitable for savouring fine wines with the right service and at the right temperature.
The walk-in baggage compartment is pressurized and heated, allowing passengers to comfortably access luggage at any time during flight and offers 1,000 lb of storage capacity.
Cessna Citation Longitude boasts an easy-access cockpit with ergonomic design for optimal and functional crew comfort.
It is equipped with state-of-the-art on-board technology. Being able to rely on Garmin G5000 avionics, pilots have complete control of navigation and communication systems via touchscreen controllers. The cockpit is also equipped with fully integrated autothrottles and LinxUs software, the industry’s advanced on-board diagnostic system. With an optional head-up display and improved vision capability, the Cessna Citation Longitude jet facilitates eyes-up flying, resulting in lower approach minima (landings).
And with the expected maintenance intervals longest in its class – 800 hours or 18 months – another big value for this aircraft is low operating costs once you own one.
The maniacal attention to the technological aspects and the obsession for the design is how Cessna Citation Longitude is showing its route.
