Cessna is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, and the company’s 1 millionth customer was on hand here yesterday to mark his purchase of a Citation CJ3. Along with his wife, Anna, Juan Jose Bermudez will fly the CJ3 in the course of running his business, the Puerto Rican-based engineering firm of Bermudez & Longo. Bermudez has been flying since 1964, and over the years he has owned several aircraft, including a Citation CJ1 and CJ2–both of which remain in operation for the company.

Over the 75 years of its existence, Cessna has built 183,500 aircraft, encompassing 150 models that have flown 6 billion passengers 160 billion miles, senior vice president of marketing Roger Whyte said here yesterday.

To embolden potential buyers in these cloudy times, Cessna announced that the deposit on any new Citation has been reduced to $75,000 through the end of the year, and that 2002 prices will be held for any Citation delivered in 2003 and 2004.