SINGAPORE, Feb. 2, 2010 - Cessna Aircraft Company announced today it has reached agreement with sister company Bell Helicopter to use Bell’s Asia parts distribution facility in Singapore to further enhance parts distribution to Citation operators in Asia and the Pacific Rim region. Both Cessna and Bell are Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) companies.
“We’ve had remarkable success with our partnership with Bell’s European parts center announced last year. It made sense to continue building on that success and bring the same increased Citation parts availability and decreased response time for AOG situations to our customers in this region,” said Mark Paolucci, Cessna senior vice president, Customer Service.
AOG, or Aircraft on Ground, means the aircraft needs a part to operate and is the most urgent of any aircraft service requirement.
Paolucci said operators will continue to work directly with Cessna’s full customer support network of authorized service centers.
“This new process is completely transparent to the customer, other than seeing their aircraft operational again much quicker as this new process moves the part one day closer,” Paolucci said.
Based on unit sales, Cessna Aircraft Company is the world's largest manufacturer of general aviation airplanes. In 2009, Cessna delivered 754 aircraft, including 289 Citation business jets, and reported revenues of about $3.3 billion. Since the company was originally established in 1927, more than 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. More information about Cessna Aircraft Company is available at www.cessna.com.Textron Inc. is a multi-industry company that leverages its global network of aircraft, defense, industrial and finance businesses to provide customers with innovative solutions and services. Textron is known around the world for its powerful brands such as Bell Helicopter, Cessna Aircraft Company, Jacobsen, Kautex, Lycoming, E-Z-GO, Greenlee, and Textron Systems. More information is available at www.textron.com.
