I was pretty optimistic when the concept of the Very Light Jet was born. There were several neat designs and costs promised to be impressively low. Since then though, several start-up VLJ companies failed and many other projects are stalled or just creeping along. The VLJ hype has all but disappeared. How then has Cessna reached the impressive milestone of rolling out its 300th Citation Mustang?

Cessna's name and pedigree certainly can't be hurting things. I think their approach to developing the plane was a big factor too. While some companies were trying too many new things and stretching to live up to big promises, Cessna took their time and was realistic about price and performance from the start. Even without all the hype of other companies, Cessna's Mustang has quietly made the VLJ market a reality.

In Cessna's press release about the roll out of #300, CEO Jack Pelton related how the Mustang is popular with everyone from air taxis, to charters, to training companies to private owners. Being small enough for low-density operations like charter and air taxi is definitely a key factor. Even the next-higher step in business jets would be too expensive for these applications. VLJs like the Mustang are also the absolute cheapest way for aspiring pilots to build jet time. It's also fast enough to be enticing as a taxi in spite of the small seating capacity.

Cessna may have hiccuped with the SkyCatcher, but they seem to have done everything right with their Mustang.

I hope Cirrus, Piper and Diamond are a bit jealous of Cessna. Any of them could have stolen market share if the'd brought their jets to market sooner. I guess they're just following Cessna and Embraer's policy of 'slow and steady quality development wins the race.' It'll be fun to watch the market once that race really gets going.

picture via ATXA.com