Cessna sees foreign sales up; China not yet

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chief of Cessna Aircraft Co. said international orders are taking up a larger share of the plane-maker's order book, but China and India are not yet major markets for business jets despite their explosive economic growth.

"China and India obviously have a large income potential but the infrastructure is not keeping up with that demand," said Jack Pelton, Cessna's chief executive, at the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

"China has about 150 airports that would service a business jet's needs, and here in the United States we have over 5,000," said Pelton. "So you can see they have a long way to go to bring that infrastructure up to where it needs to be."

For the last few years, Cessna, a unit of Textron Inc. (TXT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), has been turning itself into a global company rather than a "North America, U.S. economy-centric" firm, said Pelton.

Cessna, based in Wichita, Kansas, competes worldwide with General Dynamics Corp.'s (GD.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Gulfstream, Raytheon Co.'s (RTN.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) aircraft unit, France's Dassault (AVMD.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Canada's Bombardier Inc. (BBDb.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

The United States still dominates the global business jet market, but Europe, the Middle East and Asia are ordering more planes as their economies flourish and wealthy travelers get a taste for private planes.

Up to 40 percent of Cessna's plane deliveries this year will be to international customers, up from 20 percent to 30 percent five years ago, Pelton said.

Orders are running at about 60 percent domestic and 40 percent international overall, said Pelton. But orders for its new Citation Mustang -- Cessna's new entry level jet designed to compete in the very light jet category -- are running about 50 percent each for the United States and abroad, Pelton said.

In April, Cessna said it had begun delivery of 42 Skyhawk piston engine training planes to the Civil Aviation Flying University of China, the country's largest flight training center, which accounts for most of China's pilots being trained today. The university has also taken delivery of six of Cessna's Citation CJ1 jets.

China, along with India, is still not a large market said Pelton, but probably will be in the long run: "We are not sure when it will emerge, but we are getting there first."

(Additional reporting by Fred Katayama)