The Cessna Citation Columbus was a business jet project by Cessna, part of the Cessna Citation family.
The Model 850 was launched in February 2008 and cancelled in July 2009. It would have been the largest model of the family at the time. Powered by 8,830 lbf (39.3 kN) PW810 turbofans and a 4,000 nmi (7,400 km) range, the $27 million aircraft had a 709 sq ft (66 m2), 30° swept wing.
Cessna began research on the largest Citation in 2002 with market studies, surveys, concept testing, focus groups and customer advisory boards.[1]Amockup of the large cabin concept was unveiled on October 17, 2006, at the National Business Aviation Association convention[2]
Cessna formally announced the aircraft on February 6, 2008 ; FAA certification was planned by the end of 2013, with deliveries beginning in 2014. The Columbus had a target range of 4,000 nmi (7,408 km) with 8 passengers. The cockpit would have featured a synthetic vision system, autothrottles, optional head-up display and Collins' MultiScan weather radar with optional windshear prediction.[3]
On April 29, 2009 Cessna announced that it was suspending the Citation Columbus program, but indicated at that time that the program might be restarted once economic conditions improved. The company also indicated that it would lay off 1,600 workers, including up to 700 workers from the Columbus program.[5]
On July 8, 2009, Cessna reported the cancellation of the program in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).[6] The company said "Upon additional analysis of the business jet market related to this product offering, we decided to formally cancel further development of the Citation Columbus". Cessna's parent company, Textron will write-off US$43 million as a results of the cancellation. The SEC-filed documents indicate that Cessna spent approximately US$50 million on tooling, facilities and other costs for the project. Most of these costs are unrecoverable and cannot be used for other projects.[7]
Pratt & Whitney Canada immediately stopped the PW810 engine program,[8] but continued the PW800 series.[9] On July 11, 2009, Cessna announced that it would return US$10M to the City of Wichita and Sedgwick County. The money was received as an economic incentive for developing the aircraft in Wichita and was part of $70M in cash assistance and tax breaks received from those two governments.[10]
a Redesignated during development • b Not built • c Produced only by Reims • d Transferred to Beechcraft during development • e Early models had no "I" suffix; some sources call these aircraft the Citation 500
