Cessna production cuts may help pre-owned light jet market
Cessna’s decision to slow-down light jets production could be a mix of good and bad news.
Cessna’s production facility in Wichita, Kansas.
Two aircraft brokers have said that concerns over the light jet market, in light of Cessna slowing-down production of its Citation series, may have been overstated.
Oliver Stone, founder of Colibri Aircraft, has called it “a mixture of good news and bad news,” while applauding Cessna for taking action.
Stone is selling a Cessna Citation Mustang through his London-based jet brokerage and does not believe Cessna’s reduced delivery figures – along with Hawker’s retraction from the market – will have much of an effect upon his business.
“The typical light jet buyer is buying transportation and not the ego of the aircraft,” said Stone. “They are not sexy and do get as much press as the bigger jets, but there will always be a need for light jets.”
Like Stone, Tom Crowell Jr., president of Jet Brokers Inc. in St Louis, pointed towards Embraer’s line of Phenom jets as a testament to the segment’s appeal and cited the increase in competition – along with Eclipse Aerospace and the pre-owned market – as reasons for Cessna’s falling sales.
“I think this will help my business by removing one of my buyer’s options,” said Crowell.
While Stone and Crowell agreed that Cessna’s news does not mean the light jet market is necessarily in decline, Stone did allude to the possibility that the story could be “a prequel to a more ominous story about Cessna.”
Yearly light jet deliveries
