Announced at the October 1976 NBAA convention, the Model 650 made its maiden flight on May 30, 1979, received its type certification on April 30, 1982 and was delivered between 1983 and 1992.

An all new design, the Citation III had a 312 sq ft (29 m2) swept wing for a 22,000 lb (10 t) MTOW and a 2,350 nmi (4,350 km) range, a T-tail and two 3,650–4,080 lbf (16.2–18.1 kN) TFE731 turbofans.

Its maximum cruise was targeted for 470 kn, the long-range version had a 19,300 lb gross weight and would cover 3,000 nmi.

[11] The certification delays and loss of range caused by the design changes, together with economic factors stemming from the early 1980s recession, resulted in a number of early-order cancellations.

However, the pilot has to manually deploy speedbrakes and spoilers, and retard throttles in order to achieve maximum descent rate.

In 1988 Cessna studied a 4 ft (1.2 m) stretch, longer range Citation IV to better compete with the BAe 125 with new engines, either Garretts or Pratt & Whitney PW300s.

[18] In 1990, Cessna cancelled the bigger, longer range and more expensive Citation IV to offer the cheaper VI and more capable VII.

[21] For $1.65 million more than the III, the Citation VII has more powerful engines to improve the payload-range and hot and high performance.

[19] The cabin interior was customized to each buyer's preference, with a wide range of trim and seat fabrics, galley equipment, and in-flight entertainment options, and the aircraft came with a full-width aft lavatory that could be outfitted as a dressing room.

[2] Data from Frawley[1]General characteristics Performance Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era