Aircraft model
CESSNA 560XL
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
The Citation Excel, and the designation that has carried every development of it since, is the most successful midsize business jet ever built. Cessna put a shortened Citation X fuselage — a genuine stand-up cabin, six feet of headroom — onto a Citation V wing with new engines, and the result carries eight passengers 1,800 miles at 430 knots while still using runways under 4,000 feet. Fractional operators bought them by the hundred and the charter market runs on them. The name on the registry does not change but the aircraft does. The Excel proper was delivered from 1998 to 2004 with PW545A engines and conventional-era avionics. The XLS from 2004 has PW545B engines and the Honeywell Primus 1000 glass cockpit. The XLS+ from 2008 has PW545C engines with FADEC, a Collins Pro Line 21 four-screen flight deck and the longer nose of the Sovereign. The XLS Gen2 from early 2022 is an XLS+ with a new interior and cabin systems, and the Ascend, in service from late 2025, adds new avionics, engine improvements and a flat cabin floor. A 2003 Excel, a 2006 XLS and a 2010 XLS+ are all 560XLs with three different engines and cockpits.
It is the aircraft most people mean when they talk about a practical corporate jet: big enough to be comfortable for three hours, small enough to be affordable, and supported everywhere. The economics are real money — roughly 180 gallons an hour, two PW545 engines on a maintenance programme, two pilots in most operations, hangarage and recurrent training. Payload and range trade against each other as in every jet: with full fuel the cabin load is well under 1,500 lb, so a full-range leg means four or five passengers, not eight. A CE-560XL type rating is required and it is distinct from the CE-560 rating for the Citation V/Ultra/Encore despite the similar model number, which catches people out.
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Put CESSNA 560XL side by side with up to two other models.
- CESSNA 560XL
What it is
| Seats | 10 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | tricycle |
| Engines | 2 |
| Engine | Pratt & Whitney Canada PW545B |
| Horsepower | — |
| Fuel | JetA |
| Certification basis | FAR25 |
| Production start | 1998 |
| Production end | current |
| Endorsements required | multi-engine |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 430 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 1,858 nm |
| Service ceiling | 45,000 ft |
| Climb rate | 3,500 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 88 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | 3,560 ft |
| Landing over 50 ft | 3,180 ft |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 10 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 7,400 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | 660 lb |
| Max takeoff weight | 20,200 lb |
| Empty weight | 12,800 lb |
| Usable fuel | 1,006 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | 180 gal/h |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $2,200,000 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $16,000,000 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | 5,000 h |
| Overhaul cost, low | $700,000 |
| Overhaul cost, high | $1,100,000 |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 761 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 580 |
| Median year built | 2004.0 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 8 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 1 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 13.791 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 3.452 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 142 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 24.483 |
| Airworthiness directives | 19 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 1 |
| Rate confidence | ok |
- Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 580 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 580 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 580 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing multi-engine, turbo-fan, 2 engines, 7+ seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | 3.4 of 101 |
| Severity | 5 of 102 |
| Access | 8.3 of 103 |
| Support | 10 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 4.4 of 105 |
| Overall (sum of the categories shown) | 31.1 out of 506 |
These record scores treat CESSNA 560XL as one design with the same aircraft registered under other names: it includes 140 aircraft registered under TEXTRON AVIATION INC; includes 4 aircraft registered under CESSNA AIRCRAFT CO. Prices are not combined.
- Accident record: class median 1.23 · 42 models in class.
- Severity: class median 10.
- Access: class median 9,850.
- Support: class median 197.5.
- Liquidity: class median 32.81.
- Each of the five categories places the model within its peer class, from 0 (the worst of the class) to 10 (the best): a position among comparable models, not a grade. The overall score is the sum of the categories shown that are scored, out of 10 for each (50 when all five are); it is given only when at least 4 of the five are scored, and it can be set against another model's only when both are in the same peer class and scored on the same categories.