Cessna SkyCatcher to be Made in China

Cessna has agreed to outsource all production of its new Model 162 Skycatcher to China's Shenyang Aircraft, in a move that says will keep the price of the light sport aircraft down. Wichita, Ky.-based Cessna plans to fly the prototype Skycatcher for the first time in 2008. Credit: Cessna Aircraft Company

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) -- Cessna Aircraft Co., a unit of industrial conglomerate Textron Inc., said Wednesday it will make its latest lightweight plane with China's Shenyang Aircraft Corp.

Cessna, based in Wichita, Kansas, will design and certify the Model 162 SkyCatcher light sport aircraft, and Shenyang Aircraft, a unit of state-owned China Aviation Industry Corp., will build the planes.

The partnership was announced during a signing ceremony Wednesday in Beijing.

While domestic and international plane manufacturers have teamed up with Chinese companies to make airplane components for years, this would be the first time a U.S. company turned over full production to a Chinese partner.

Cessna officials said building the SkyCatcher in China would save on costs, keeping the company competitive in the growing light sport aircraft market, which is aimed at pilot training and light recreation flyers.

"The benefit is it enables us to provide the SkyCatcher at a lower price," Cessna spokeswoman Pia Bergqvist. "We looked at several different facilities in several different countries. This was the one that seemed to make the most sense."

The company first unveiled the single-engine, two-seat plane in July, saying it expects to begin testing a prototype in the first half of 2008 and begin delivering them to customers in the second half of 2009. It said it already has 900 SkyCatchers ordered.

The first 1,000 SkyCatchers will sell for $109,500 (euro74,252) before increasing to $111,500 (euro75,609) for subsequent orders, the company said.

Bergqvist said moving the SkyCatcher overseas will not affect operations at its domestic manufacturing facilities, which are expected to hire an additional 1,500 employees next year and have an estimated $11.9 billion (euro8.07 billion) in back orders.

"We can't support any more growth here," she said, noting that 11,000 of the company's 14,500 workers are based in Wichita. "This is not going to take away from any of the business."

Shenyang, founded in 1951, is a civilian and military aircraft manufacturer with 16,000 employees and works with such companies as Boeing, Airbus, Bombardier, Spirit AeroSystems and Singapore Aerospace.

"SAC greatly values the cooperation with Cessna and sees Cessna as a significant partner in the general aviation segment," said Luo Yang, Shenyang's chairman and president, in a news release.

Lin Zouming, president of China Aviation Industry Corp. I, which owns Shenyang, added that with China's economic expansion, his company "has placed strategic importance on general aviation development and will strongly support and promote the business."

Sports aircraft form one of the fastest-growing segments of general aviation in the U.S. The Federal Aviation Administration predicts the number of registered sports aircraft growing from an estimated 400 last year to 5,600 by 2010.

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