Citation Sovereign N680AB, side view, photographed in 2012. · Photo: JetRequest.com, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Cessna · Midsize Jet
Citation Sovereign (680)
First of three Model 680 jets, followed by the Sovereign+ and the wider-cabin Latitude.
The original Sovereign gives you the longest cabin of its midsize peers, coast-to-coast range with four passengers and short-runway ability, at about $6.9M asking. It costs more to run than most rivals, and engine program status decides which examples are worth buying.
Buy it if
You fly six to nine people on two- to five-hour trips, want nonstop US coast-to-coast with four aboard, and use short or high-elevation runways that rule out a Hawker or Gulfstream G150.
Skip it if
You need a flat floor and stand-up headroom, a modern touchscreen cockpit with autothrottles, or the lowest possible hourly cost; a Latitude, Sovereign+ or Citation XLS+ fits those better.
Biggest compromise
The cabin is long but only 5 ft 6 in wide and 5 ft 8 in tall in a dropped aisle, so it feels narrower than a Hawker 900XP or Embraer Legacy 450. Running costs sit roughly 15% above the midsize average, driven by fuel burn and engine programs.
The numbers that matter
Purchase price
$6.9M
typical asking · $5.7M–$7.95M
What it costs per year
$1.87M
at 300 hrs · two professional pilots
How far it flies
2,847 nm
2,589–2,829 nm with passengers
How fast
445 kt
high-speed cruise
Seats
9
9 typical, 8 to 12 by interior
Pilots needed
2
Always flown by two pilots; it was never certified for single-pilot operation.
Price
What one costs to buy
Typical asking price
$6,897,500
Where asking prices sit
Low
$5.7M
Typical
$6.9M
High
$7.95M
Most asking prices fall inside this band.
Other sites
7.7% of the fleet
Priced vs call
with a price / call for price
Four of 17 listed aircraft show a price, from $5.7M for a 2004 to $7.95M for a 2010. A published guide puts 2009–2012 models at $8.5–10.0M.
Price vs its family and alternatives
Scroll to explore · select a jet for details
Citation Sovereign (680) · This aircraft
$6.9M
Sits between the Hawker 900XP and the Citation Sovereign+ (680).
For sale now
None listed right now
Cost to own
What it costs per year to run
300hours / year
Per year
Per flight hour
Estimate — your operator will quote actual numbers.
Fuel, airframe maintenance, engine program, both engines and apu program rise as you fly more. Two pilots, recurrent training, hangar and insurance stay the same however much you fly.
Where the money goes
- Two pilots$343,12518%
- Recurrent training$75,0004%
- Hangar$72,5404%
- Insurance$45,4592%
- Fuel$612,06633%
- Airframe maintenance$417,30022%
- Engine program, both engines$271,20014%
- APU program$37,8002%
Fuel is the biggest single cost at 33% of the total.
The JetGrade
75 out of 100 — Clearly above its class
Peer group: Hawker 900XP, Gulfstream G150, Embraer Legacy 450, Learjet 60XR, Cessna Citation XLS+ (560XL)
Seven categories at a glance
- - - 70 = typical— This aircraft
Strongest on airport access, weakest on running costs.
Grades are editorial opinions about the model, not any specific aircraft. Sponsors and affiliates have no input. Reviewed 2026-10-28.
Where it flies
Sample trips and reach
Typical trips on a map
Nonstop
Depends on weight or weather
7 of 8 sample trips are comfortable nonstops.
Sample flight times
- 0.9 hr
Carlsbad → Las Vegas
205 nm · Short hop with margin at any load
- 2.0 hr
Carlsbad → Aspen
625 nm · Short-field wing suits Aspen; weather still rules
- 2.3 hr
Santa Ana → San José del Cabo
765 nm · Easy nonstop with a full cabin
- 2.6 hr
Teterboro → West Palm Beach
900 nm · Comfortable nonstop with a full cabin
- 3.3 hr
Dallas → Teterboro
1,190 nm · Nonstop with seats full
- 3.8 hr
Teterboro → San Juan
1,410 nm · Nonstop with a full cabin
- 5.6 hr
Carlsbad → Teterboro
2,100 nm · Nonstop with four; strong headwinds may cut load
- 6.1 hr
Los Angeles → Honolulu
2,215 nm · Ocean crossing; winter headwinds can limit load
Lineage
What came before and after
2004–2013
Cessna Citation Sovereign (680)
Stretched Excel-style cabin on a new wing, PW306C engines and Honeywell Primus Epic.
What changed from the Cessna Citation VII (650)
- FADEC-controlled Pratt & Whitney Canada PW306C engines of 5,770 lb thrust each replace Honeywell TFE731s.
- Honeywell Primus Epic with four 8 by 10 inch screens and dual flight management systems.
- New 16-degree swept wing with large flaps; takeoff about 3,700 ft at maximum weight.
- Fuselage based on the Citation Excel, stretched to a 25 ft 3 in cabin.
- About 2,830 nm with four passengers, enough for most US coast-to-coast trips.
- Maximum takeoff weight of 30,300 lb with 11,223 lb of usable fuel.
Size and cabin
How big it is, inside and out
Outside
Silhouette · scaled to length
Length
Wingspan
Height
Inside the cabin
Photo · this model
Cabin length
Width
Height
Compare
How it stacks up
This aircraft
Citation Sovereign (680)
- JetGrade
- 75
- Price
- $6.9M
- Cost per year
- $1.87M
- Range
- 2,847 nm
- Speed
- 445 kt
- Seats
- 9
- Cabin length
- 25′ 3″
- Pilots
- 2
- Years built
- 2004–2013
← Before
- JetGrade
- 65
- Price
- $2.3M
- Cost per year
- $1.93M
- Range
- 1,825 nm
- Speed
- 452 kt
- Seats
- 8
- Cabin length
- 18′ 5″
- Pilots
- 2
- Years built
- 1992–2000
After →
- JetGrade
- 73
- Price
- $10.89M–$13.25M guide
- Cost per year
- $2.39M
- Range
- 3,200 nm
- Speed
- 460 kt
- Seats
- 9
- Cabin length
- 25′ 3″
- Pilots
- 2
- Years built
- 2013–2021
Alternative
- JetGrade
- 72
- Price
- $4.63M
- Cost per year
- $1.78M
- Range
- 2,856 nm
- Speed
- 446 kt
- Seats
- 8
- Cabin length
- 21′ 4″
- Pilots
- 2
- Years built
- 2008–2012
Alternative
- JetGrade
- 75
- Price
- $18.75M
- Cost per year
- $2.15M
- Range
- 2,700 nm
- Speed
- 446 kt
- Seats
- 8
- Cabin length
- 21′ 9″
- Pilots
- 2
- Years built
- 2015–now
- Cessna Citation Sovereign+ (680) instead: Same cabin with factory winglets, more range, Garmin G5000 and autothrottles, for roughly twice the money.
- Hawker 900XP instead: Wider cabin and similar range for less money, but it needs about 5,100 ft of runway and has far less baggage space.
- Cessna Citation Latitude (680A) instead: Six-foot flat-floor cabin and a modern Garmin cockpit, with less range and a shorter cabin at more than double the price.
Gold marks the best figure in each row.
Owning one
What to know before you buy
Engines & inspections
2 × Pratt & Whitney Canada PW306C · 5,770 lbf each
Engine hours until overhaul
- Aft bulkhead inspection · 100 hr
- Engine mid-life inspection · 3,000 hr
- Engine overhaul · 6,000 hr
- Horizontal stabilizer lug inspection · 7,500 hr
- Annual airframe inspection every 12 months
- Four-year airframe inspection every 48 months
- Eight-year airframe inspection every 96 months
- Twelve-year airframe inspection every 144 months
Most listed aircraft are on ESP, JSSI or PowerAdvantage; an unenrolled engine near its 3,000-hour inspection is a major price lever.
Known issues
Aft bulkhead repetitive inspection
A 2017 directive requires checks every 100 hours until a permanent repair, about $18,500 at FAA rates, is installed.
Engine events are costly
Mid-life inspections at 3,000 hours and overhauls at 6,000 have grown sharply in cost and shop time.
Twelve-year inspection timing
The 144-month inspection is the largest calendar event; know when it was last done and what it found.
Pre-buy checklist
0 of 9 checked
Textron Aviation supports the Sovereign through more than 20 company service centers and over 80 mobile service units, with about 323 still flying worldwide.
Review
The full review
Strengths
- About 2,830 nm with four passengers makes most US coast-to-coast trips nonstop in still air.
- Takeoff in about 3,700 ft at maximum weight opens short and high-elevation runways rivals can't use.
- A 25 ft 3 in cabin seats nine in two club groups, with 135 cu ft of baggage space.
Limitations
- Cabin is 5 ft 6 in wide and 5 ft 8 in tall, tighter than a Hawker 900XP or Legacy 450.
- Running costs near $6,250 an hour at 300 hours a year sit above most midsize rivals.
- Honeywell Primus Epic cockpit has no autothrottles; datalink and approach upgrades vary by aircraft.
The Citation Sovereign is the first of Cessna's Model 680 jets, built from 2004 to 2013. Cessna took the cabin cross-section of the Citation Excel, stretched it to a 25 ft 3 in cabin, and hung it on an all-new, moderately swept wing with large flaps and two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW306C engines of 5,770 lb of thrust each. It replaced the Citation VII at the top of Cessna's midsize line. Cessna built 349 before the Sovereign+, with factory winglets and a Garmin cockpit, took over, and about 323 are still flying.
Pilot's take
The Sovereign flies like a big, honest Citation. The large wing and approach speeds near 100 kt make short runways routine, and operators describe climbs of 4,000 to 6,000 ft per minute into the mid-40s in about 20 minutes. The Primus Epic cockpit is capable once a crew knows it, but a failed display on the ground can keep the airplane parked, so spares support matters. It is not fast for a midsize jet, cruising around 430–445 kt, but it gets into airports the faster jets skip.
Who this is for
Companies and families flying six to nine people 250–400 hours a year, mostly within North America, who value cabin length, range and short-field access more than the latest cockpit or the lowest operating cost.
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