Cessna Citation CJ2

Where it came from

Cessna started the drawings on 1 May 1998, began building the prototype that August and announced the aircraft at the NBAA convention in Las Vegas on 18 October 1998. The brief was plain. The CitationJet and the CJ1 below it had proved the formula, and owners wanted the same aeroplane with more cabin, more range and more payload. The answer was a stretch of about five feet, a longer wing and Williams FJ44-2C engines in place of the -1A.

The prototype — N2CJ, itself a rebuilt CitationJet — flew on 27 April 1999. The FAA certified the type under FAR Part 23 on 21 June 2000, and the first customer aircraft went to King Pharmaceuticals of Tennessee on 30 November 2000. It sold fast: the hundredth production CJ2 was delivered on 27 August 2002, and 176 were in service by August 2003. Cessna built 299 CJ2s through to 2006, and the 525A airframe stayed in production until January 2016.

The volume behind it is the practical point for a charter client. The 525 family passed 2,000 deliveries and five million flight hours by June 2017, so CJ2s sit on ramps across Europe, crews fly the type every week, and a technical delay on one aircraft rarely ends the trip — there is usually another within an hour's positioning.

Who charters a CJ2

Four to six people, a European leg of one to three hours, and luggage that is real rather than a laptop bag each. The CJ2 gets booked when a CJ1 or a Phenom 100 has run out of seats, or when the destination has moved from Geneva to Ibiza.

It sits between two clean answers. Below it, the CJ1 costs around €400 an hour less and does the same job for four people over 90 minutes — the CJ2 is not worth the difference on a Geneva–Nice hop. Above it, the Phenom 300 and the Citation XLS+ cost 15 to 20 per cent more per hour and fix the two things the CJ2 cannot: a cabin that holds its range with every seat sold, and, in the XLS+'s case, one you can walk down. The CJ2 owns the middle — distance and speed for six people, at a light jet's rate.

What 2,990 km means with six aboard

This is the number to get right before you book. The manufacturer publishes a seats-full figure of 1,075 nm — about 1,990 km — against the 2,990 km headline. Six adults with real luggage turn the CJ2 into roughly a 2,000 km aeroplane, a third off the brochure. With four aboard the published range is close to what you actually get, which is why the type is quoted so often for five.

That still covers most of what people ask of it: London–Nice, London–Geneva, Paris–Ibiza, Milan–Palma, Munich–Rome. It does not cover London–Athens with the cabin full, and anything past three and a half hours is a different aircraft rather than a longer CJ2 day. Maximum payload is 669 kg and weight binds before volume does, so send us the piece count and rough weights and we check them against the specific tail before quoting.

The cabin, the hold and the lavatory

4.14 m long, 1.47 m wide, 1.45 m high: nearly 0.8 m more cabin than a CJ1 in the same cross-section, which is exactly the trade this aircraft makes. Six seats fit as a club four with two more forward, and you do not stand up in any of them. The compensation is altitude: certified to 45,000 ft, the CJ2 climbs over the weather and the airway traffic rather than through it.

Baggage is about 1.98 m³ across a nose hold and an aft locker, with roughly 0.11 m³ more inside the cabin. Six full-size cases go without argument, but the main holds cannot be reached in flight, so anything you want aloft travels as a cabin bag. The lavatory is at the aft end of the cabin. It is private, it is usually screened by a curtain rather than a solid door — that varies by serial number — and it is not externally serviced. We confirm the arrangement on the aircraft we quote.

The corridors it actually flies

Realistic block times with six aboard and no fuel stop: Paris–Nice about 1 h 15, London–Geneva 1 h 20, Geneva–Ibiza 1 h 30, London–Nice 1 h 40, London–Milan 1 h 40, London–Barcelona 1 h 55. The practical ceiling is around three and a half hours, which is western Europe and the whole Mediterranean basin from a northern base.

Field performance opens the airports those routes need: 1,024 m to take off at maximum weight at sea level, 1,164 m as a balanced field, and 908 m to land. Cannes–Mandelieu at 1,610 m and Sion at 2,000 m are comfortable. The Citation CJ family is on London City's approved-type list, but the steep-approach approval is held per operator, so we confirm it on the specific aircraft before quoting. Samedan is workable and density-altitude limited in summer — on a hot afternoon expect a fuel or payload restriction. Paved surfaces only.

What moves the price

From about €3,000 per flight hour, and the hourly rate settles less of the bill than people expect. Aircraft are not parked where you want them: if the nearest CJ2 is in Milan and you are leaving from Luton, that positioning leg is on your quote, which is why a same-day return often prices better than two one-ways.

Crew duty is the second lever. Two pilots, an early departure and a late return can pass what one crew may legally fly, and a second crew or a night stop changes the number. Then the calendar: Nice and Ibiza through the summer, the Alps at February half-term, Cannes in May, the Grand Prix weekend. Slots, parking and handling at Nice, Geneva and Ibiza price accordingly, and on a 90-minute sector those fees are a bigger share of the total than the fuel is. Every trip is quoted individually.