Textron Aviation (Wichita Cessna Aircraft Field) is emphasising increased maintenance intervals on its Citation Ascend, customer experience, and updated avionics as it continues to promote the product in Europe, Duncan Van De Velde, vice president of sales in Europe, told ch-aviation in an exclusive interview during AERO Friedrichshafen.

“We have worked closely with Pratt & Whitney Canada on an upgraded version of the engine, with more horsepower, which means you have better take-off performance but you also have less fuel burn,” the executive said. “They have mastered it so much that it's created more efficiency of thrust, fuel burn, and also they managed to have bigger maintenance intervals. They increased it by 1,000 hours. And that is massive. So you have less ground time on the engine.”

The Citation Ascend comes with the PW545D engines, and an updated version of the previous PW545C engines. According to the manufacturer’s specifications, PW500 engines had time between overhaul (TBO) of up to 5,000 hours before the PW545D, for which TBO rose to up to 6,000 hours.

Van De Velde added that Textron had done the same with the maintenance intervals. “Airframe maintenance intervals were increased to 18 months or 800 hours from the previous 12 months,” he said.

“We also focused on minimising the ground time so that you can make more use of the aircraft. And this is what we have learned from the Latitude and the Longitude, and we use the same technology,” Van De Velde stressed.

The Citation Ascend is the latest variant of the Citation 560XL series, which also includes the Citation Excel, Citation XLS, Citation XLS+, and Citation XLS Gen2. The first Ascend was delivered in January this year, some two months after the aircraft was certified in the US. The aircraft received FAA certification in November 2025 and EASA certification is expected soon.

Customer feedback in R&D

Textron has actively worked with existing customers to decide on updates for the Ascend, Van De Velde pointed out.

“We changed the air stairs because we wanted a different entrance. You have more grip now, and we added LED lighting to improve visibility,” he said, adding that this is the type of feedback Textron had listened to customers about.

Besides that, the Ascend comes with a flat floor, phone charger cases in the sidewall panels, and an acoustic cabin that enables smooth conversations throughout the cabin. The aircraft uses the Gogo Galileo HDX for inflight connectivity. An aftermarket upgrade for Starlink is also available.

Other improvements on the Citation Ascend include the Garmin G5000. “The new avionics system is user-friendly, and it removes pressure from the crew so they can be more focused on flying,” he said, elaborating that the system’s auto-throttle also helps fuel efficiency as it balances the fuel control better.

Van de Velde noted that Textron wanted the Ascend to keep the CE-560XL type rating. “There are so many pilots trained on the 560, so we wanted to create something innovative. It's new avionics, a new experience, but it remains a 560 so that the crew can just do a conversion training for Garmin, and off they go,” he said.

Textron will continue to support previously produced aircraft in the Citation 560XL series. “You can upgrade the XLS into a Garmin cockpit as well. We will continue to support, and we will continue coming up with upgrades and things to help customers to also stay up to speed with the technology on the current aircraft,” he said.

Europe’s market potential

Textron has been “very busy” in showcasing the Ascend in Central and Eastern Europe, as many operators that already operate Cessna 560 XL/XLS aircraft are interested in hearing about updates.

“The market is very alive, and we see a lot of good things happening,” he said.

According to ch-aviation data, there are 148 Citation 560XL aircraft in Europe and another twenty-one Citation 560s. The Citation Ascend is yet to formally enter the European market as it awaits EASA certification.

“Europe as a whole is the most popular region for the Ascend. We see first-time buyers acquiring the aircraft, we see operators with high utilisation plans, and we see corporates buying it when they need it to bring their own people from point A to point B,” Van De Velde said.

Asked about boosting production, he said that Textron does not wish to “be at full capacity” as it wants to focus on quality. The manufacturer is, however, “looking at production efficiency and improvements in production” constantly.

Luminair contract

While Ascend’s promotion continues, Van De Velde stressed that Textron has a large variety of types to serve very different customers.

“Others are sometimes selling aircraft for a mission, but we can support customers whatever mission they have,” he commented, pointing out that Textron can support a customer going from a piston aircraft to a jet.

One customer Textron recently signed a large order with was LUMINAIR (LUA, Hamburg), which opted for nine Citation Latitudes.

“This is a company that has got to know us really well. They fly the Citation XLS, and they appreciate what we do, not only manufacturing-wise but also with the support side,” Van De Velde stated.