Business Aviation

The Cessna Citation is a marketing name used by Cessna for its line of business jets. Rather than one particular model of aircraft, the name applies to several "families" of turbofan-powered aircraft that have been produced over the years. Within each of the six distinct families, aircraft design improvements, market pressures and re-branding efforts have resulted in a number of variants, so that the Citation lineage has become quite complex. Military variants include the T-47 and UC-35 series aircraft.

The Cessna Citation III was the first of the Model 650 series of Citation jets, which are mid-sized, high-performance business jets. The Citation III led to the later development of the Citation VI and Citation VII. The 650 series was the second of six distinct "families" of jets marketed by Cessna Aircraft Company under its Cessna Citation brand.

While the Citation I and II were successful from a sales perspective, their nearest competitors were twin turboprop aircraft. Cessna decided it needed a high performance, mid-sized jet to compete with the growing market of fast corporate jets. To develop such an aircraft, Cessna started from scratch for its design, rather than building on the exising Citation product line. Development of the Citation III began in 1978, and the prototype made its first flight on May 2, 1980. After a typical development flight test program, the aircraft received its FAA type certification on April 30, 1982. The aircraft is flown by a crew of two, and with a typical corporate interior will seat six passengers, although in a high-density configuration, it can seat up to nine. It was powered by a pair of Garrett TFE731-3B turbofan engines.

In 1983, just after the first aircraft were delivered to customers, the Citation III set several class records, including two time-to-climb records and an overall speed record of 5 hours, 13 minutes for a flight from Gander, Newfoundland to Paris' Le Bourget Airport. Production continued for nine years until 1992, with a total of 202 Citation IIIs being built.