Cessna will invest at least $30 million over the next three years to build a new Kansas plant and will refurbish another plant to restart production.
The main impetus behind Cessna’s restart is the federal General Aviation Revitalization Act, passed last year, which limits lawsuits involving airplanes more than 18 years old and protects makers from serious liability exposure.
Cessna plans to make four varieties of single- engine planes starting in 1996: the 172 Skyhawk, the 182 Skylane, the 206 and 206T. The first two can accommodate a pilot and three passengers, and the third is a five- passenger plane. All are proven older models, but will be equipped with improvements, including fuel-injection systems, rather than carburetors to avoid engine-icing problems.
Cessna intends to build about 2,000 piston-powered singles a year by 1998. Instrument panels will be all- metal instead of the plastic false panel used on earlier versions of the Cessna singles, and every aircraft will be corrosion-proofed. Cessna predicts it will sell most of the Skyhawks and Skylanes domestically, and as many as half of the 206 models overseas. The 206s are well-suited to landing on dirt and gravel strips in underdeveloped regions like Africa or Northern Canada.
Cessna anticipates that 50 percent of the airplanes delivered will be leased, as opposed to purchased, and the lessee will not be given the option of buying the airplane at the end of the lease period. Cessna has not yet announced prices for the line of piston singles.