Ron DeSantis's Cessna Citation Latitude N943FL returns to Tallahassee from New Jersey

Ron DeSantis's Cessna Citation Latitude, tail number N943FL, flew from Essex County Airport in Caldwell, New Jersey, to Tallahassee International Airport on Friday, November 13, 2026. The aircraft departed at 15:39 UTC and landed at 18:19 UTC. The flight took 2 hours and 40 minutes.

The great-circle distance between the two airports is 810 nautical miles, or 932 miles. The aircraft reached a top speed of 408 knots and a maximum altitude of 38,000 feet. Based on our estimates, the flight burned about 613 US gallons of fuel and produced roughly 5,888 kg of CO2, about the same as driving a car 14,573 miles. The Cessna Citation Latitude is a super midsize jet with a range of 2,700 nm, a ceiling of 45,000 feet, and seating for up to nine passengers.

This flight ended at the aircraft's home base, Tallahassee International Airport. In the 30 days before this flight, N943FL made 18 landings at Tallahassee, with the last one on November 11, just two days earlier. The aircraft's usual destinations include Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Jacksonville. Recent flights by the same owner include a Tallahassee to Teterboro trip on November 12, a Leesburg to Tallahassee flight on November 11, and a Tallahassee to Dulles leg on November 10.

Ron DeSantis was inaugurated as the 46th Governor of Florida on January 8, 2019, and re-elected in 2022 with a 19-point margin. A former U.S. Navy JAG officer and U.S. Representative from 2013 to 2018, DeSantis launched and withdrew from the 2024 Republican presidential primary before endorsing Donald Trump. The state-owned jet, which costs Florida taxpayers approximately $1.2 million annually in financing, attracted scrutiny during the 2024 campaign when flight tracking showed it deployed to early primary states simultaneously with DeSantis campaign events, raising transparency questions and prompting ethics complaints.

The aircraft spent about 25 hours on the ground before this flight, following a tracked landing at Teterboro on November 12. That leg from Tallahassee to Teterboro covered 807 nm and was the longest flight in the previous 30 days. The return to Tallahassee comes after a week that included trips to South Bend, Indiana, and Leesburg, Virginia, as well as multiple in-state shuttles to West Palm Beach and Pinellas Park.

The aircraft is a 2019 Cessna Citation Latitude, model 680A, with serial number 680A0234. It is powered by Safran Arrius 2B2 turbofans and has a maximum takeoff weight of 30,800 lbs. The jet has a top speed of Mach 0.80, or 446 knots, and typically seats eight passengers, with capacity for up to nine. It is the best-selling Cessna jet and features a flat floor and G5000 avionics.

In the 30 days before this flight, N943FL made 38 flights totaling 33.4 hours in the air. Those flights covered about 10,983 nautical miles and produced an estimated 73,899 kg of CO2. The aircraft visited 24 airports in one country during that period. The average ground speed on this flight was 304 knots, and the trip used 30 percent of the aircraft's range.

Essex County Airport has a longest runway of 4,552 feet at an elevation of 173 feet. Tallahassee International Airport's longest runway is 8,000 feet at an elevation of 81 feet. The aircraft's estimated fuel burn is 230 US gallons per hour. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement provides executive transport for the governor through this aircraft.