Wed, May 20, 2015
Firms Up Deliveries Of Next Installment Of King Air 350i Aircraft
Textron's Beechcraft Corporation announced Tuesday at the European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE) that Wheels Up has exercised its option to purchase the next 35 King Air 350i turboprops from its initial order placed in 2013. The additional aircraft will help expand the membership-based private aviation company’s fleet throughout the United States.
Nearly two years ago, Wheels Up made the largest order in history for general aviation turboprop aircraft, encompassing up to 105 King Air 350i aircraft and including maintenance, service and support. The company took delivery of its first King Air 350i at NBAA 2013 and immediately began service.
To date, Wheels Up has taken delivery of 31 of its initial order of 35 King Air 350i aircraft. Deliveries of the additional 35 aircraft, which will be outfitted with the new Pro Line Fusion avionics system, are expected to begin in the first quarter of 2016. The private aviation company also has taken delivery of 10 factory-custom refurbished Cessna Citation Excel/XLS aircraft.
“The Textron Aviation family is proud that Wheels Up not only chose the King Air 350i to launch its revolutionary company, but that we can now offer them the industry’s widest range of aircraft solutions to support their growth,” said Scott Ernest, Textron Aviation president and CEO. “We look forward to expanding our relationship for years to come as Wheels Up continues to grow its membership.”
“I feel like we are just getting started,” said Kenny Dichter, Wheels Up founder and CEO, in connection with exercising the option for the next tranche of King Air 350i aircraft. “Our current Wheels Up fleet plan calls for 175 King Air 350i and 50 Cessna Citation Excel/XLS by 2021, and we are exploring ways to incorporate additional Textron products onto the Wheels Up platform. Europe is an ideal market for the King Air 350i and remains a focus for future expansion for Wheels Up.”
(Image provided by Textron)
More News
Runway Lead-in Light System Runway Lead-in Light System Consists of one or more series of flashing lights installed at or near ground level that provides positive visual guidance a>[...]
Aero Linx: Aviation Without Borders Aviation Without Borders uses its aviation expertise, contacts and partnerships to enable support for children and their families – at hom>[...]
Dave Juwel's Aviation Marketing Stories ITBOA BNITBOB ... what does that mean? It's not gibberish, it's a lengthy acronym for "In The Business Of Aviation ... But Not In The Busine>[...]
From 2010 (YouTube Version): Yeah.... This IS A Really Cool Job When ANN's Nathan Cremisino took over the lead of our Aero-TV teams, he knew he was in for some extra work and a lot>[...]
Also: Junkers A50 Heritage, Montaer Grows, Dynon-Advance Flight Systems, Vans' Latest Officially, the Carbon Cub UL and Rotax 916 iS is now in its 'market survey development phase'>[...]
ANN's Daily Aero-Term (04.24.24): Runway Lead-in Light System
See All