Textron prepares for busy 2027 with four aircraft set to enter service

Manufacturer readying clean-sheet Denali and three Gen3 variants of its Citation light jet range, as new chief executive Brian Rohloff aims to get production back on track.

Textron Aviation is displaying four Cessna Citation models at NBAA-BACE, including a first appearance at the show for its CJ3 Gen2 light jet. The recently-in-service, midsize Ascend – which made its Las Vegas debut last year – and Textron’s larger cabin pairing, the upper-midsize Latitude and super-midsize Longitude, complete the line-up.

It comes as the Wichita airframer’s new chief executive Brian Rohloff, seven weeks into the job, mulls a to-do list that includes – in the shorter term – bringing to certification next year Gen3 versions of its three Citation light jets as well as the Beechcraft Denali, a long-delayed clean-sheet turboprop single that competes with the Pilatus PC-12 and TBM 980.

Rohloff must also focus on returning to fitness a business battered by post-pandemic supply chain glitches and skilled labour shortages. Longer term, there are big decisions to be made, including whether to return to a large-cabin segment it abandoned when it axed the proposed Citation Hemisphere in 2019 over issues with the Safran Silvercrest engine.

Textron is enjoying healthy demand and prospects for a product line-up that remains by far the broadest in the industry. It encompasses evergreen piston aircraft, stalwarts such as the Caravan and King Air families, the Cessna SkyCourier utility platform, the Denali, Slovenian electric aircraft pioneer Pipistrel, and the Citation jet range.

Textron sees opportunities in the passenger market for the SkyCourier. Source: Textron Aviation

Overall shipments in the first half of 2026 rose to 333, compared with 300 in the same period last year, according to General Aviation Manufacturers Association figures, although Citation deliveries were three down on the 80 handed over between January and June 2025. This was offset partly by stronger shipments of the SkyCourier and King Air variants.

The CJ3 Gen2 is unusual in that its arrival on the market – the nine-passenger, Williams International FJ44-3A-powered type entered service in January – comes just ahead of its Gen3 successor, which flew for the first time in July and is expected to achieve certification, along with its M2 Gen3 and CJ4 Gen3 stablemates, next year.

The key difference between the CJ3 Gen2 and Gen3 is Garmin Autoland, which lands an aircraft autonomously if a pilot is incapacitated and has become an industry standard since its 2019 launch. Because the CJ3 Gen2 has Garmin 3000 avionics and autothrottle, it means operators can retrofit Autoland, effectively turning their aircraft into a Gen3.

The same applies to the entry-level M2 Gen2, which entered service in 2022, and is also equipped with a Garmin 3000 flightdeck and autothrottle. Its M2 Gen3 successor, which will also be equipped with Garmin’s Autoland technology, made its maiden sortie in June and like the other Gen3 variants is deep into its flight-test campaign.

The larger CJ4 is the most changed of the trio between its Gen2 and Gen3 iterations, as Textron is replacing the existing variant’s Collins ProLine 21 avionics with the Garmin 3000 Prime, complete with autothrottles and Autoland. This has made its flight-test programme lengthier than that for the M2 and CJ3 Gen3 versions.

The CJ4 Gen3 – which will include new features such as winglets fitted with LED accent lights, a lithium-ion battery, and improved cabin acoustics – will be the “first light jet proper” on the market with Autoland, says Jimmy Beeson, vice-president of product development. However, Embraer’s newly certificated Phenom 300EV also has the technology.

The Denali is expected to achieve its long-awaited certification next year. Source: Textron Aviation

Also on the certification schedule for next year is the Denali, which was announced in 2015 and originally intended to enter service four years later. Delays to the GE Aerospace Catalyst engine, developed by the company’s subsidiaries in Italy and the Czech Republic, were largely responsible, although the powerplant was finally certificated in February 2025.

Beeson admits the triple challenge of certificating an aircraft with all-new fuselage, new McCauley C1106 propeller, and new engine has stretched Textron’s resources. But he insists demand remains “strong” ahead of entry into service and that the Denali’s lower direct operating costs will secure plenty of customers across the owner-operator, Part 135, and corporate sectors.

A more unusual addition to Textron’s business aviation line-up is the SkyCourier. Developed with launch customer FedEx Express as a freighter, the type, which entered service in 2022, is increasingly finding a market in a special missions role, ranging from humanitarian flights for the Paraguayan air force to an air ambulance in Algeria.

Textron, however, also believes it could play a role, if not in the pure VIP market, then as a rugged transport for tour operators or companies providing services to remote mining locations. Although the Caravan and King Air offer a similar versatility, the high-wing SkyCourier’s advantage is its size, comfortably seating 19 passengers, or around 10 in a combi version.

FlightGlobal had the chance to fly in the SkyCourier ahead of NBAA-BACE in a 45min sortie over Wichita. And while the unpressurised type, powered by twin Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-65SCs and fitted with a Garmin G1000 NXi flight deck, may not offer the comfort of a Citation, its stand-up, flat-floor cabin feels roomy, with large windows affording clear views.

While Textron’s range spans the tiny, two-seat Pipistrel Velis Electro to the super-midsize, 3,500nm (6,480km)-range Longitude, the clear gap in its portfolio is in large-cabin segment dominated by Bombardier, Dassault, and Gulfstream. It is a market Textron has tried to enter before, with Columbus in the 2000s, and, a decade later, the larger Hemisphere.

That programme was ended after long delays to the clean-sheet Silvercrest, which was also slated to power the Dassault Falcon 5X. On a possible revival or successor, Rohloff, understandably, gives little away, telling FlightGlobal in a 16 October interview in Wichita that “we continue to look at all segments” but “we feel comfortable with the segments we’re in”.

Strength in Wichita

Rohloff will be very familiar with the challenges of introducing new models to the market. He spent 29 years with the company, in a variety of roles, including nine in manufacturing and latterly running Textron Aviation’s aftersales activities, before being selected to succeed long-time chief Ron Draper earlier this year.

He says the business’s strengths include its 9,000 mostly Wichita-based employees, many of whose connections go back generations, the breadth of its portfolio, and its Beechcraft and Cessna (now joined by Pipistrel) brands. “It’s a people culture,” he says. “We have employees who really understand the product.”

Textron Aviation was created in 2014 when Cessna owner Textron acquired troubled Wichita rival Hawker Beechcraft. Rohloff says that while the Beechcraft brand will continue to be used for the King Air and Denali, there are no plans to reinstate Hawker. The company, however, will go on supporting operators of 400 and 800 series Hawker jets, he says.

Perhaps Rohloff’s biggest immediate task is keeping the production lines running without hitches. In July, Lisa Atherton, chief executive of parent company Textron, revealed that half of Textron Aviation’s employees joined the company less than five years ago, after an exodus of experienced employees during the Covid period.

She said the business was pushing to strengthen its production system and supply chain as it targets annual out

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