As the world’s most prolific aircraft manufacturer announces more sales this afternoon, Jeffrey Decker catches up with the man behind the Cessna success story

The CJ4 is in test flights, the XLS+ is rolling off Cessna’s production line, the Columbus is for sale and the high-performance pistons of a former competitor are sold today as the Cessna 350 and 400.

With so much development, can Cessna keep up its plans for a new aircraft every year? And might the next new aircraft be powered by piston engines or jets? “How about both?” says chairman and CEO Jack Pelton. “We’ve got a lot of other products in the works and it will just be a matter of the appropriate timing.”

Those aircraft will serve a growing global customer base that continues to shift dependence off US orders. In 2007, Cessna delivered 1,272 aircraft, including 387 Citation business jets. The Wichita, Kansas-based manufacturer reported revenues of about $5 billion and a record backlog

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