Citation Excel / XLS: specifications, range, cabin

More than a thousand aircraft delivered — a record for the midsize class. The hundredth Excel came off the line in Wichita in August 2000. Here is the engineering decision that produced it and what a buyer needs to know today.

XLS+ specifications

Full data and photos are on the model page.

The decision the whole programme grew out of

The Excel is assembled from ready-made assemblies of three different aircraft, and that is where its strength lies.

Cessna took a shortened Citation X fuselage — the one you can stand upright in. To that they added the wing from the Citation V Ultra and the tail surfaces. The result was the roomiest cabin in the midsize class at a moderate price.

Normally the ability to stand in the cabin means moving up a class and paying fundamentally different money. The Excel delivered it in midsize — hence the thousand aircraft.

Four generations: what exactly you are buying

The difference between the Excel and the XLS is the move to a glass flight deck, a change of substance. On the pre-owned market that is the first thing to establish: listings often say simply "Citation XL".

What to bear in mind when buying

Range of 1 858 nautical miles comes with a qualification. As with any aircraft, the book figure is obtained in ideal conditions. Load nine people with baggage and it comes down. Plan a route near the limit of book range with a technical stop and cost it in advance.

Fleet age. Base Excels were built up to 2004, so the youngest of them is over twenty. That is not a verdict — the type is common, support is established, parts are there — but it calls for particularly careful checking of the documents and the life remaining.

Count cycles alongside hours. The Excel works a great deal on charter on short legs, and there cycles accumulate incomparably faster for the same hours. On this type checking cycles matters more than it does on long-haul aircraft.

Operating history. The largest operators are NetJets and the charter companies. An aircraft out of an intensive commercial fleet and one from a private owner that has flown little are two different aircraft in condition and in approach to maintenance. Neither is automatically worse: the commercial one usually has impeccable documentation and regular maintenance, the private one less wear. What you look at is the documents: they show the condition more accurately than any seller's story.

Who it suits

The typical mission: 6–9 people, legs of up to three and a half hours, the need to work properly and move about the cabin in flight. Corporate flying, regional routes, charter.

On short legs it is Cessna and Hawker that are in demand: Bombardier Global goes to the long routes, and for flights of a few hours the choice usually comes down to those two families. The pre-owned market works in the Excel's favour here too: a deal on a used aircraft takes around two months, while a new one is waited on for something like a year and a half. A client who does not need to buy for the job in hand is one I talk out of it.

It does not suit cases needing intercontinental non-stop legs or a berth — that is Heavy and Ultra-Long Range.

Conclusion

The Citation Excel and its successors are the most numerous midsize business jet in history, and that ubiquity works for the owner: a live pre-owned market, established support, available parts, predictable resale.

The main question in the choice is the condition of the particular aircraft: which generation, how many cycles, out of which fleet, and what the logbooks say.

Alexander Filimonov — business aviation: sourcing, acquisition and entry into service of aircraft.