Three months after purchasing Columbia Aircraft Manufacturing Corp. through U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Cessna Aircraft Co. is soaring in Bend and plans to add more than 100 jobs to meet increasing demand for its airplanes, according to Mark Withrow, Cessna’s local general manager.

The company booked orders for 150 aircraft at its annual sales meeting in Sunriver two weeks ago for authorized dealers from around the world.

“We’ve taken a hit-and-miss operation with part shortages to a completely filled factory with orders filled through the year that are meeting customer demand,” Withrow said.

The company could have booked more orders for its Cessna 350 and 400 models — high-performance, single-engine, propeller-driven, composite aircraft manufactured in Cessna’s factory at Bend Municipal Airport — but it didn’t because it anticipates price changes for upcoming models, he said.

Due to rising demand for its planes, which are faster than traditional metal-frame, propeller-driven planes but slower than jets, Withrow said the company plans to produce 500 planes a year in Bend by 2010.

Under Columbia, the plant delivered 152 planes in 2007, according to The Bulletin’s archives. Wichita, Kan.-based Cessna bought Columbia for $26.4 million in December 2007.

Cessna believes the aviation market can sustain a combined production rate of 400 planes per year for its 350 and 400 models, Withrow said. The remaining 100 planes would likely be part of a new production model, he added.

Eric Strobel, business development director with Economic Development for Central Oregon, said Cessna appears rooted in Bend after some initial concerns in the business community that the company might decamp for Kansas after acquiring Columbia.

“All signs point to them being a real vibrant business in the community, and I don’t think we have any worries about them (not) being a long-lasting company here,” Strobel said.

To handle its anticipated growth, Cessna plans to hire about 130 new workers by the end of the year, Withrow said.

The company has roughly 420 employees today, 300 of them in manufacturing, he said.

Cessna also plans to speed production. Withrow said Columbia was averaging 5,200 production hours per plane. He would like to whittle that to 2,500 hours. Cessna also is implementing lean manufacturing procedures and working to instill its community-based culture into the work force, he said.

Cessna is likely to need a larger facility in the near future, Withrow said. The company has negotiated with the city of Bend, which owns the airport and some of the surrounding property, for right of first refusal on seven acres east of its existing facility on Nelson Road, he said.

The company also is asking the city to make several improvements to the airport. Most important is the construction of an aircraft control tower to manage airport traffic, Withrow said. The airport averages 50,000 takeoffs and landings per year, all coordinated via flight radio by pilots.

“With the amount of volume we have and expect to grow to, a tower is paramount for flight safety for where we need to be,” Withrow said.

Withrow said Cessna also needs a larger ramp, or parking area, a larger engine run-up area to safely test new engines and a compass rose — a large compass painted somewhere on the tarmac — to calibrate aircraft navigation systems.

The city recently asked Congress for $600,000 to study the addition of a control tower.

Cessna has not seen any evidence of an economic slowdown, according to Withrow. Sales and bookings of the Cessna 350 and 400 — both turbo-charged, four-seat planes — have increased, he said, adding that Cessna’s name recognition helped what was already a quality product.

“I think (Cessna’s) stability causes lots of the aggressive demand for the products,” Withrow said. “Columbia never sold in advance like (Cessna recently did). They were producing, but it was hand-to-mouth in terms of sales.”

Pete Bevans, the aircraft sales manager for Hillsboro Aviation in Hillsboro, the exclusive Cessna dealership in Oregon, said the Cessna 350 and 400 models have sparked substantial interest in the aviation world.

“It fills a niche they didn’t have in their product line and rounds out what we have to offer,” said Bevans, who attended the Cessna sales meeting in Sunriver.

Bevans said his dealership offers the Cessna 350 for $590,000 and the Cessna 450 for $620,000.

Bevans said he is impressed with the airplanes — and that they’re made in Bend.

“Never thought I would see a Cessna factory in Bend,” said Bevans, a 1957 graduate of Bend High School.