Textron Aviation deliver 36 business jets in second quarter

Cartier Europe Sovereign+ PH-CTR (Photo: Sander)

Textron Aviation delivered 36 business jets during a second quarter that CEO Scott Donnelly describes as ‘stable’.

One of two Cartier Europe Sovereign+ private jets delivered during the second quarter (Photo: Sander)

The Cessna arm of Textron Aviation delivered 36 business jets during the second quarter of 2014, up from 20 units for the same period in 2013.

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The company also delivered 34 King Air’s during the period, up 10 aircraft from the 24 units shipped in 2013.

Although the Textron Aviation group now includes Hawker, the last jet to be delivered from Beech Field was a Hawker 4000 during the first quarter of 2013.

Speaking to analysts during Textron’s second quarter investor relations call, chairman, president and chief executive officer Scott Donnelly repeatedly described the quarter as ‘stable’ when talking about the current market outlook and prospects for the remainder of the year.

Donnelly later spoke about the new aircraft effect, saying that ” … all indicators are fairly positive, but it’s been stubborn in terms of the rate of recovery. So, we’re still largely banking on new products coming into the market to drive most of the growth”

During the quarter Textron achieved the FAA certification for the Citation X+, which allowed delivery of the first three aircraft. EASA certification for the M2 and Sovereign+ were also gained during the quarter, paving the way for deliveries of the two new types to European operators.

With the first of the new Citation X+ aircraft now delivered, Donnelly addressed the size of the market, revealing that he thinks “… the TEN is probably sort of 6 to 10 aircraft a year kind of market the way we see it”.

Elsewhere the Latitude program is picking up pace, with the two test aircraft now having flown over 100 hours between them. By the end of July the certification push should have been joined by a third aircraft.

But the real surprise came later when Donnelly hinted that any future Cessna aircraft may be towards the larger side, saying: ” … we’re always looking at the line but I think that the trend towards investing in some of the larger aircraft will absolutely continue. So our guys continue to work in the longitude program. There’s number of things we’re doing. I think you’ll see we continue to be committed to growing the sort of a larger end of our fleet of jets.”