Cessna Citation X

Since its entry into service in 1996, the Cessna Model 750 Citation X (it is not the letter “X” but the Roman numeral 10) has occupied a special place in the bizjet world. It put its number in the books as a sleek ­midsize jet that could rocket coast to coast in the United States at high subsonic speeds, delivering a remarkable value to its operators, combining world-class speed, 3,000-plus-mile range, good comfort, and excellent runway performance, all for the price of a more conventional midsize jet 70 knots slower.

(The Citation X+) could not overcome the birth defects that it had inherited from the airplane’s first generation, the original Citation X, which hit the market in 1996. Those included a narrow, stoop-over cabin replete with a 1960s-style trenched center aisle, complex hydraulics, and direct operating costs that were 25 to 33 percent higher than those of a stable of competing super-midsized aircraft—business jets that had wider, taller cabins and burned a lot less fuel.

The Citation X truly is the fastest mid-sized business jet available. It regularly cruises at .90 mach. It can fly from Los Angeles to New York in less than six hours or from Pittsburg to San Diego in four hours flat.