Cessna Puts European Customers at Heart of Service and Sales Expansion

WICHITA, Kan., — Cessna Aircraft Company, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, announced today the signing of its intent to acquire Jet Aviation’s maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities in Zurich, Switzerland, and Düsseldorf, Germany, further expanding Cessna’s global service center footprint. Both facilities will begin operating as Cessna Citation Service Centers on January 1, 2013. Jet Aviation will continue operating its FBO facilities at both locations.

“Germany and Switzerland are strategically located where a majority of Citations in the region are based and we are enthusiastic about bringing more service options to our customers in Europe,” said Scott Ernest, president and CEO at Cessna. “Cessna’s focus on enhanced service offerings, paired with our investments in new product development, demonstrate our team is wholly committed to continuing to provide the industry with choices in innovative solutions for jet ownership and comprehensive services either through Cessna-owned facilities or via our extensive network of valued partners.”

The Zurich and Düsseldorf service centers will provide a one-stop shop for comprehensive repair, maintenance, overhaul, refurbishment and customization services for Citation business jets and other manufacturer aircraft currently maintained at these facilities. As Cessna-operated Citation service centers, the Zurich and Düsseldorf service centers will now offer additional service programs to customers, including Cessna’s ProAdvantage programs, which enable customers to level or reduce the costs of maintaining their aircraft, while significantly increasing its value.

“Jet Aviation’s service facilities in Zurich and Düsseldorf have vast experience supporting Cessna Citations as premier Cessna Authorized Service Facilities. Their high-quality operations are a superb fit with the service philosophy underpinning Cessna’s network of factory-operated service operations worldwide,” said Joe Hepburn, senior vice president, Customer Service.

Cessna now has a total of 15 factory-operated Citation Service Centers across Europe, the United States and Singapore. The company’s global Citation Service Center network also includes the ServiceDirect initiative, through which the company operates 22 Mobile Service Units in the United States, Canada and Europe, and provides further field support through Cessna’s AOG Go Teams, Air Response Team, HomeService and Temporary Personnel Support.

Additionally, the company announced today plans to expand its European sales force with the establishment of satellite offices throughout the region. Aligning with the expansion of Cessna’s service network, as many as 12 additional sales members will be located in recently-acquired Cessna Citation Service Centers, including Zurich, Düsseldorf, Doncaster and Valencia, as well as other locations across the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.


###

About Cessna
Cessna is the world’s leading general aviation company. Since its inception in 1927, Cessna has designed, produced and delivered more than 193,500 airplanes around the globe. This includes more than 6,300 Citation business jets, making it the largest fleet of business jets in the world. Today, Cessna has two principal lines of business: aircraft sales and aftermarket services. Aircraft sales include Citation business jets, Caravan single-engine utility turboprops, single-engine piston aircraft and lift solutions by CitationAir. Aftermarket services include parts, maintenance, inspection and repair services. In 2011, Cessna delivered 689 aircraft, including 183 Citation business jets, and reported revenues of $2.990 billion. More information about Cessna Aircraft Company is available at cessna.com.

About Jet Aviation
Jet Aviation, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), was founded in Switzerland in 1967 and is one of the leading business aviation services companies in the world. More than 4,500 employees cater to client needs from 22 airport facilities throughout Europe, the Middle East, Asia and North and South America. The company provides maintenance, completions and refurbishment, engineering, fixed base operations, along with aircraft management, charter services, aircraft sales and personnel services. Jet Aviation’s European and U.S. aircraft management and charter divisions jointly operate a fleet of more than 250 aircraft. Please visit www.jetaviation.com and follow us on twitter: http://twitter.com/jetaviation

About Textron
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 textron.com.

Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements which may project revenues or describe strategies, goals, outlook or other non-historical matters; these statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the risk that the acquisitions will not close as planned or will not perform as anticipated; risks and uncertainties related to establishing new facilities; risks related to doing business internationally; changes in worldwide economic and political conditions that impact demand for our products, interest rates and foreign exchange rates; difficult conditions in the financial markets which may adversely impact our customers’ ability to fund or finance purchases of our products and volatility in the global economy resulting in demand softness or volatility in the markets in which we do business.