Cessna 525C
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
The Citation CJ4, the largest and fastest member of the CitationJet family and the top of the 525 type certificate. It has a swept wing rather than the straight one the rest of the family uses, Williams FJ44-4A engines, and it cruises at 451 knots with 2,165 nautical miles of range. It carries eight or nine passengers and still operates single-pilot on the shared CE-525 type rating. Textron-era aircraft through 2020 have the Collins Pro Line 21 flight deck; from 2021 the CJ4 Gen2 has the Garmin G3000 with an autothrottle, which is the one change a buyer needs to date an aircraft by.
That last point is the commercial argument for it: a CJ4 does most of what a midsize jet does while remaining on a light-jet type rating that an owner-pilot can hold and that a fleet can standardise on. It is genuinely quick, it climbs directly to 45,000 feet, and the cabin is long enough to be comfortable for three hours. The costs step up from the CJ3 — bigger engines, more fuel, higher purchase price — and the swept wing means approach speeds are higher and short-field performance is less remarkable than the straight-wing CJs. Full-fuel payload remains the binding constraint on a maximum-range leg.
Variants of the Cessna CitationJet / CJ series (525)
- 525 · 1993 · 441 active
- 525A · 2000 · 281 active
- 525B · 2004 · 353 active
- 525C · 2010 · 258 active · this page
Also consider
- Learjet 45Partial 19.5/30 · 11 seats · 460 kt
- Embraer EMB-505Partial 25.2/30 · 11 seats · 453 kt
- Cessna 560Score 23.9/50 · 10 seats · 430 kt
Compare with…
Put Cessna 525C side by side with up to three other models.
- Cessna 525C
Watch this model
One email a day if anything changes: new ADs and NTSB records.
What it is
| Seats | 11 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | tricycle |
| Engines | 2 |
| Engine | Williams FJ44-4A |
| Horsepower | — |
| Fuel | JetA |
| Certification basis | FAR23 |
| Production start | 2010 |
| Production end | current |
| Endorsements required | multi-engine |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 451 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 2,165 nm |
| Service ceiling | 45,000 ft |
| Climb rate | 3,854 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 90 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | 3,410 ft |
| Landing over 50 ft | 2,940 ft |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 11 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 6,830 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | 1,001 lb |
| Max takeoff weight | 17,110 lb |
| Empty weight | 10,280 lb |
| Usable fuel | 870 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | 165 gal/h |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $5,800,000 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $12,700,000 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | — |
| Overhaul cost, low | $700,000 |
| Overhaul cost, high | $950,000 |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 276 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 258 |
| Median year built | 2021.0 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 2 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 0 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 7.751 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 02 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 122 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 47.293 |
| Airworthiness directives | 11 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 1 |
| Rate confidence | ok |
- Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 258 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 258 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 258 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing multi-engine, turbo-fan, 2 engines, 7+ seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | —1 |
| Severity | —2 |
| Access | 4.8 of 103 |
| Support | 9.1 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 7.1 of 105 |
| Overall (sum of the categories shown) | Partial: 21 out of 30 (safety not scored, too few records)6 |
These record scores treat Cessna 525C as one design with the same aircraft registered under other names: it includes 157 aircraft registered under CESSNA; includes 2 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. When accident record and severity cannot be scored because the model has too few records, the other three give a partial score out of 30, labelled as such; it is never set against a full score.
Data as of: FAA registry Sep 28 · NTSB Oct 2 · ADs Oct 6 · scores Sep 30