(Source: Business Wire)

Cessna Aircraft Company, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, comes to
the 62nd National Business Aviation Association Meeting
(NBAA) and Convention with optimism that the business aviation market is
thawing.
"I'm far from ready to call a turnaround, but we do continue to see some
encouraging developments," said Cessna Chairman, President and Chief
Executive Officer Jack J. Pelton. "Financing is more readily available,
used aircraft inventory is lowering and prices for used aircraft have
increased for the first time in several quarters. Average Daily
Utilization figures for the Citation fleet have stopped dropping and
bookings for maintenance work are on the rise. We are seeing signs of
stabilization and some indicators that the business jet market is
starting to move in a positive direction. Single engine retail sales
have been particularly strong in recent weeks which is usually a
forerunner for the rest of the product line."
Cessna's static display at Orlando Executive Airport features the full
line of current production Citation business jets: the Citation X,
Citation Sovereign, Citation XLS+, Citation Encore+, Citation CJ3,
Citation CJ2+, Citation CJ1+ and a Citation Mustang. On Wednesday, Oct.
21 only, a Citation CJ4 will be on hand. An upward extension of the CJ
family, the CJ4 is currently in the flight test phase of development.
The exhibit also will include two ValuePlus previously owned Citations:
a Citation Excel and Citation V. A Grand Caravan and Cessna Corvalis TT
will be on hand to represent Cessna's line of turboprop and
single-engine piston models.
"We're going ˜back to basics' this year at NBAA, concentrating on
exhibiting our products at the static display and not having a booth in
the convention hall," Pelton said. "We do upward of 60 events a year,
and NBAA is still one of just a handful of shows that truly brings
people from throughout the world to one place for business aviation.
This is increasingly important as the international markets seem less
frozen than our domestic market right now, particularly Western Europe
and South America."
About Cessna
Based on unit sales, Cessna Aircraft Company is the world's largest
manufacturer of general aviation airplanes. In 2008, Cessna delivered
1,301 aircraft, including 467 Citation business jets, and reported
revenues of about $5.662 billion. Since the company was originally
established in 1927, some 192,000 Cessna airplanes have been delivered
around the world, including more than 6,000 Citations, making it the
largest fleet of business jets in the world.