Textron Aviation

As of October 2026 – At the edge of a small airfield, a Skyhawk taxis to the runway: high wing, struts, nose gear. A few miles away at the regional airport, a Citation with two rear-mounted engines lands, at the helipad of the university hospital a King Air with air ambulance markings stands, and at night a Caravan with a FedEx logo drones through the darkness. All of these aircraft come from the same city: Wichita, Kansas, the self-proclaimed “Air Capital of the World.” That is where Textron Aviation is based, the umbrella over the traditional brands Cessna, Beechcraft and Hawker. If you know the basic shapes of these families, you already have a big part of general aviation covered.

Two Wichita legends under one roof

Textron Aviation is young, but the brands within it are almost a hundred years old. The older one is Cessna: on September 7, 1927, the aviation pioneer Clyde Cessna founded an aircraft company in Wichita together with Victor Roos, though Roos left again after just a few weeks. During the Great Depression the company had to close in 1932; in 1934 Clyde’s nephews Dwane and Dwight Wallace took it over and rebuilt it. After World War II, Cessna became synonymous with the small private airplane.

Almost at the same time, the second legend emerged just a few miles away. In 1932, Walter and Olive Ann Beech founded the Beech Aircraft Company together with the engineer Ted Wells. Walter Beech had previously co-founded the company Travel Air – together with Clyde Cessna. The first Beech aircraft, the elegant Model 17 Staggerwing biplane, flew in November 1932. After Walter’s death, Olive Ann Beech took over leadership in 1950 and led the company for three decades – an exception in the aviation industry of the time.

The paths then diverged for a long time. From 1985, Cessna belonged to General Dynamics and from 1992 to the conglomerate Textron of Providence, Rhode Island. Beech went to the defense company Raytheon in 1980. Only in 2013 did the two come together again: in December, Textron agreed with the Beechcraft Corporation on a takeover for about $1.4 billion. The purchase was completed on March 14, 2014, and Textron formed Textron Aviation from it, headquartered in Wichita.

Besides the aircraft division, the Textron group includes the helicopter manufacturer Bell and the defense division Textron Systems, among others. Since January 2026, Lisa Atherton has led the entire group as the successor to Scott Donnelly. In 2022, Textron also bought the Slovenian manufacturer Pipistrel for $235 million, whose Velis Electro received the first EASA type certificate for an electric aircraft in 2020. Pipistrel forms the core of the sister division Textron eAviation.

Where Hawker comes from – and why there are no new Hawkers

The third name in the group has British roots. The Hawker business jets trace back to the de Havilland DH.125, later built as the HS 125 at Hawker Siddeley and as the BAe 125 at British Aerospace. The best-known version, the BAe 125-800, first flew on June 26, 1983.

In August 1993, Raytheon bought the business jet division of British Aerospace and merged it with Beech in 1994 to form Raytheon Aircraft. The jets were henceforth called Hawker, and final assembly moved to Wichita. That is how the Hawker 800XP and its derivatives 850XP and 900XP came about, plus the smaller Hawker 400 (formerly Beechjet) and the large Hawker 4000 with a composite fuselage.

In March 2007, Raytheon sold the division for $3.3 billion to the investors Onex and Goldman Sachs, who renamed it Hawker Beechcraft. The financial crisis hit the heavily indebted company hard: on May 3, 2012, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. A sale to a Chinese investor collapsed in October 2012, after which the decision was made to give up the jet business. On February 19, 2013, the company emerged from bankruptcy as the leaner Beechcraft Corporation – without jets. Across all manufacturers, around 650 examples of the Hawker 800 were built.

The families at a glance

At the fence, it helps to think of Textron Aviation in families. Each group has its own basic shape, and within the group, length, windows and details decide.

Cessna: from the Skyhawk to the Caravan

The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is the most-produced aircraft in history. It has been delivered since 1956, with production pausing only between 1986 and 1996: because of high costs from product liability lawsuits in the US, Cessna stopped building small piston aircraft at the time. Since production resumed, the Skyhawk is once again the standard in flight schools around the world. Just in July 2026, for example, the Egyptian Aviation Academy ordered ten new aircraft. Its little sister, the two-seat Cessna 152, is no longer built but is still common at European airfields. A bit more powerful is the 182 Skylane, which you often see on cross-country flights and at skydiving operations.

The biggest hit beyond small aircraft was the Cessna 208 Caravan. The single-engine high-wing aircraft with a Pratt & Whitney Canada turboprop first flew on December 9, 1982, and deliveries began in 1985. FedEx became a major customer early on; at the express carrier’s request, windowless cargo versions known as the Cargomaster were created. By 2022 the 3,000th Caravan had been delivered. The current Grand Caravan EX flies with a more powerful PT6A-140. The Caravan is an all-rounder: it carries cargo, passengers, skydivers and, on floats, even operates from lakes. The US regional airline Cape Air ordered eight Grand Caravan EX for its network in Montana in September 2026, and Southern Airways Express also operates the type.

Since 2022 there has been a twin-engine complement: the SkyCourier. Textron Aviation unveiled it in November 2017 with FedEx Express as launch customer, which ordered 50 aircraft firm and another 50 as options. The first flight was on May 17, 2020, FAA certification followed on March 11, 2022, and the first aircraft went to FedEx in May 2022. The boxy high-wing aircraft carries three LD3 containers or up to 19 passengers. By now government agencies and armed forces fly it as well; in October 2026, Textron Aviation announced the Paraguayan Air Force as its first South American military operator. How the cargo networks behind the FedEx feeders work is explained in the article Express integrators DHL, FedEx and UPS.

Citation: the largest business jet family

Cessna ventured its first business jet in the late 1960s. On September 15, 1969, the prototype of the Fanjet 500 flew, which entered service in 1972 as the Citation. The idea: a simple, robust jet that even pilots who had previously flown turboprops could handle. From it grew the most extensive business jet family of all – in 2022 the number of Citations delivered passed the 8,000 mark.

The current family can be roughly divided into three groups:

• Light jets: The 525 series (CitationJet) ranges from the M2 through the CJ3 to the CJ4. The small Citation Mustang was discontinued in 2017 after 479 aircraft. In 2021, Textron Aviation announced the Gen2 versions of the M2, CJ3 and CJ4; in 2026 the Gen3 models with Garmin emergency autoland are in flight testing, and the CJ3 Gen3 first flew in July 2026.
• Midsize: The Citation Excel and XLS have been charter classics for years, and their successor, the Citation Ascend, entered service in 2025. The wider Latitude with a flat cabin floor is a bestseller; in September 2026 the 500th Latitude rolled out of the hangar in Wichita.
• Super-midsize: The Longitude has been the flagship since 2019. Older large Citations are the Citation Sovereign, whose production ended in 2021, and a real rarity is the Citation X with its strongly swept wing, built for high cruising speed. Textron Aviation put the even larger Hemisphere project on ice in 2018.

Many Citations fly in the fleets of fractional providers like NetJets and Flexjet as well as with European charter companies. How to tell them from the Phenom, Challenger or Falcon is shown in the article Telling business jet types apart.

Beechcraft: Bonanza, Baron and King Air

The Bonanza has been in the lineup since 1947, making it one of the longest-produced aircraft ever. You recognize the early models by their distinctive V-tail; today’s G36 has a conventional tail. The twin-engine Baron is its big brother. Historically exciting is the Model 18, a twin-engine tailwheel aircraft from the 1930s that still turns up at vintage aircraft gatherings today.

The most important Beechcraft product, however, is the King Air. The first aircraft was delivered on October 8, 1964, and since then the family has shaped the market for twin-engine business turboprops. All King Airs fly with PT6-series turboprops from Pratt & Whitney Canada.

• King Air 90: The short original version with a mostly conventional tail, code BE9L.
• King Air 200, 250 and 260: The Super King Air 200 arrived in 1974 with the characteristic T-tail. The current version is called King Air 260, code BE20.
• King Air 350 and 360: The stretched King Air 350 with more windows and winglets is in the lineup today as the 360 and as the long-range 360ER, code B350.

The King Air is ubiquitous in government service: as an air ambulance, for surveying, maritime patrol and as a military transport under the US designation C-12. In July 2026, for example, Malta’s armed forces received another King Air 360ER for maritime surveillance.

From the King Air, Beech derived the regional turboprop 1900D, which stands out with its standing-height cabin and many small windows; it has not been built for a long time. For armed forces, Beechcraft builds the tandem trainer T-6 Texan II, which flies in the US, Greece and Israel, among others.

Still in testing is the Beechcraft Denali, a single-engine turboprop with the Catalyst engine from GE Aerospace. It was unveiled in 2015 at AirVenture in Oshkosh and first flew on November 23, 2021. The engine has been certified since February 2025; according to the manufacturer, the aircraft itself was in the final phases of flight testing in July 2026, and entry into service is announced for 2027. The Denali competes with the Pilatus PC-12 and the Daher TBM.

How to recognize Textron aircraft

With so many types, a fixed order helps. First determine the family, then the model.

Finer differences between Cessna, Piper and others are covered in the article Recognizing small aircraft. How to classify the King Air, Caravan and other propeller types is shown in Telling turboprops apart.

Where to see Textron aircraft in Europe

Unlike airliners, you don’t need a big hub for Textron aircraft. On the contrary: your best chances are often away from scheduled traffic. As of October 2026, these are the most productive places:

In Geneva, from the observation deck you regularly see business jets, including many Citations. In Salzburg, the observation deck and a visit to Hangar-7 are worthwhile, where the Flying Bulls show historic aircraft. General tips for small-aircraft spotting are in the guide Spotting general aviation, and for business jets in the article Spotting business jets.

The highest Textron density in the world is in North America. The EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh is a showcase for Cessna and Beechcraft every summer, and at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson historic types stand next to military aircraft. In Europe, AERO Friedrichshafen is the most important event for general aviation.

Textron Aviation compared

In the business jet market, Textron Aviation meets Embraer with the Phenom and Praetor, Bombardier with the Challenger and Global, Gulfstream and Dassault. The Citation family mainly covers the light to super-midsize class; Textron has no long-range jets the size of a Gulfstream G650 on offer.

Among small aircraft, Cessna competes with Piper, Cirrus and Diamond. In the turboprop segment, the Caravan, King Air and Denali go up against Pilatus with the PC-12 and Daher with the TBM. No other manufacturer covers such a broad range from trainer to super-midsize jet.

Photo tips for Cessna, King Air and Citation

Conclusion

Textron Aviation is the result of a long history in a single city. Cessna and Beechcraft grew up in Wichita almost door to door, went their separate ways for decades and still ended up under one roof in 2014. Hawker brought along a British business jet line that ended with the bankruptcy of 2012.

For spotters, Textron Aviation is everywhere: the Skyhawk stands at every airfield, the Citation at every business jet airport, the King Air with rescue services and government agencies. If you keep wing position, propulsion and tail in view and cross-check the type designator, you can neatly classify almost any aircraft from Wichita.