The Cessna Citation is a family of business jets manufactured by Cessna that entered service in 1972. In the fifty years following the type's first flight in 1969, more than 7,500 Citations were delivered, forming the largest business jet fleet in the world. Deliveries reached 8,000 by 2022, while logging over 41 million flight hours.
The line started with the small prototype Citation I (initially called FanJet 500 and sold as Cessna 500 Citation) flying on 15 September 1969, produced until 1985, and developed into the 1978-2006 Citation II/Bravo, the 1989-2011 Citation V/Ultra/Encore, and the CitationJet since 1993. The stand-up cabin height Citation III/VI/VII was delivered from 1983 to 2000; its fuselage was reused in the Citation X/X+ delivered from 1996 to 2018, the Sovereign from 2004 to 2021 and the Excel since 1998. The Mustang was a Very Light Jet delivered from 2006 to 2017. The flat-floor cabin Latitude has been manufactured since 2015, and the larger Longitude from 2019.
The aircraft are named after Citation, a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the American Triple Crown.