The project was announced at the annual NBAA convention in October, 1994, and the prototype aircraft took off on its first flight on February 29, 1996.

Federal Aviation Administration certification was granted in April 1998, by which time Cessna had over 200 orders for the aircraft.

[2] By the time the 100th Excel was delivered in August 2000, an aircraft was coming off the Wichita production line every three days.

Besides a glass cockpit based on the Honeywell Primus 1000 EFIS avionics suite, the XLS featured the upgraded PW545B engines with increased performance.

NetJets is also a major operator in the United States offering fractional ownership and charter flights.

[9] On 13 August 2014, a Citation 560XLS+ transporting Brazilian presidential candidate Eduardo Campos and his entourage in the lead up to elections in October crashed in the city of Santos, São Paulo, killing all 7 on board.