The Latitude has the largest cross-section of any Citation that Cessna has built up to its release. Strong short field capabilities mean that the Latitude can get into, and out of, airfields that the competition can’t. Citations are often seen as the work horses of the industry – they are predictable and reliable. On paper, the Citation Latitude seems to continue this tradition. But once you’re inside the cabin, you’re in for a treat.

Its mid-range specs make the Latitude a capable contender for transcontinental or cross Europe flights, but it’s in the cabin where the aircraft really shines. And, as any aircraft broker will tell you, the cabins sell the aircraft.

The Citation Latitude is positioned between the Citation XLS+ and Sovereign executive jets. The Latitude will be able to carry up to eight passengers and two cockpit crew.

With the Latitude, there’s an interesting pay off between cabin size and range. The aircraft can get from coast-to-coast in the US. You’ll be more comfortable on the way there in a Latitude, especially as the cabin pressurization has been lowered to 9.7psi – effectively meaning that at cruise height, the cabin feels like it’s at just 6,000ft.

The aircraft has a max cruise speed of 826 km/h, which will get you from New York to Los Angeles in five hours and two minutes, or Hong Kong to Beijing in two hours and forty five minutes.

Cessna put a lot of thought into the Latitude’s cabin, and it shows. The cabin cross section is wider than any other Cessna built to date, and the 10 aircraft windows are 25% larger.

Technically the aircraft can seat nine people, although one of these would need to be seated on a permanent seat in aft lavatory. In the main cabin there are six seats, with four arranged in a club format, and two further seats behind. The four club seats can be converted to lie flat beds, and there is a further two seat divan as you enter the aircraft cabin.

On board entertainment is taken care of thanks to the Clarity cabin management system. Although it’s possible to control this via an iPad, there is also an iPhone application available that individual passengers can download and use to change various different cabin environment settings.

In short, Cessna set out to build a private jet that would meet the needs of private jet business travelers in range and speed while keeping costs low and performance high.