An agreement Cessna Aircraft Co., reached Friday with partners in China is indicative of the promise of the aviation market in that country and is not a threat to Duluth-based airplane builder Cirrus’ potential sales there, a Cirrus official said.
Cessna, a Kansas-based company, is joining with the state-owned Aviation Industry Corp. of China (AVIC) and the municipal government of Chengdu in western China in a joint venture to produce midsize Cessna business jets.
Cirrus announced in June that China Aviation Industry General Aircraft Co. Ltd. (CAIGA) had completed its acquisition of all operations of Cirrus. CAIGA is a subsidiary of AVIC.
“The announcement by AVIC to partner with Cessna is indicative of the potential of the general aviation market in China; similarly as CAIGA sees its partnership with Cirrus of a year ago as growth toward the same goal,” Todd Simmons, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Cirrus Aircraft, said Saturday.
Scott Donnelly, chief executive officer of Cessna’s owner, Textron Inc., said he expected significant growth in China’s aviation market because of the country’s growing economy and diverse geography.
So far, China’s private jet market has been dominated by Bombardier and Gulfstream, which make larger jets than Cirrus and Cessna. Cessna officials said there are about 200 Cessna aircraft in China.
The signing between AVIC and Cessna comes two days after Bombardier signed an agreement with state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China to collaborate on common parts for their aircraft.
Simmons doesn’t see Cessna as a competitor to Cirrus. “The majority of the Cessna product line today is light- to mid-size jets that are larger aircraft than we build,” he said. “Whereas Cirrus’ strength is the single engine piston line — the SR20, SR22 and SR22T models. We are very, very strong in that business and we are developing the Vision SF50 personal jet,” he said. “So for the most part the strength of our individual Cirrus products and Cessna products are in different places in the general aviation market.”
Cirrus’ Vision jet, still in development, has a distinctive V-shaped tail and a red-over-white color scheme. The jet is designed for personal and regional business travel, seating five to seven people.
As of Saturday, orders for the $1.72 million Vision jet are up to 510, Simmons said. About 90 have shifted their $100,000 deposits toward the purchase of other Cirrus planes, with many of those keeping their places to buy the jet, he said.
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