King Air 350i, Hawker 450XP Added To Company's Diverse Offerings

Hawker Beechcraft Corporation had the honor Sunday of revealing two new aircraft programs... the new Beechcraft King Air 350i, and Hawker 450XP. With particular attention paid to significant customer upgrades, Hawker Beechcraft tells ANN both aircraft will offer passengers greatly improved levels of luxury and inflight entertainment.

The King Air 350i is new top-of-the-line model for the world's most popular corporate turboprop family. While mechanicals and avionics will be little-changed from the existing King Air 350, Hawker Beechcraft has made significant changes to the passenger cabin... including a redesigned, luxury-themed interior, that will also offer much lower inflight noise levels.

"The new King Air 350i completely transcends typical market segmentation," said HBC Chairman and CEO Jim Schuster. "It will continue to provide the full fuel, full seats, full baggage capability the King Air 350 has always been known for, and now will incorporate a totally new interior that is unmatched by any turbine business aircraft in its price range -- jet or turboprop."

Using what Hawker Beech terms an "exclusive three-step process," the company says interior noise levels on the King Air 350i have been reduced as much as 4 dBA... which should go a long way to alleviating what was one of the few customer complaints of the current model. In fact, HBC says the improvements make the 350i quieter than several competing jets.

Taking advantage of that quieter cabin, the King Air 350i will also be the first turboprop aircraft to sport the new Rockwell Collins Venue cabin management system. Venue supports a number of personal entertainment devices, including iPods, DVD players and even Sony PlayStation and Xbox 360 gaming platforms. The new CMS features a swing-out 15.3-inch widescreen monitor at the front of the cabin. Additional monitors may be ordered for each seat location.

Rounding out the changes is a new interior design, based on the upgraded cabin introduced two years ago on the Premier 1A business jet. In addition to plusher materials, LED lighting and electrochromic window shades, the King Air 350i cabin will also include "FlexCabin" capability, giving the owner/operator new options for reconfiguring seats, and adding such niceties as removable ottomans with storage.

Interior enhancements were also on the list of changes to create the Hawker 450XP light business jet, in the form of the Venue entertainment system and a  new interior based on the Hawker 900XP. But far more substantive changes lie under the surface.

"We have listened to our customers and are extremely proud to produce an aircraft that improves on what is already the world's best in fractional aircraft," said Schuster. "We've taken what makes the Hawker 400XP a tremendous success and built upon with more efficient engines, new interior and the most up-to-date avionics."

The Hawker 450XP sports new Pratt & Whitney PW535D turbofans, equipped with FADEC and rated at 2,965 pounds of thrust each. That power is flat-rated to ISA+20C, giving the aircraft improved hot-and-high performance. Operators will also appreciate the new Pratts' 5,000-hour Time Between Overhaul, 1,400 hours longer than the JT15D-5R engines on the 400.

Rounding out the changes to the Hawker 450 cabin is the inclusion of the Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics suite, bringing the smallest Hawker offering in-line with the company's larger jet aircraft.

First flight of the Hawker 450 is scheduled for Q2 2009, with FAA certification planned one year after. The King Air 350i is scheduled to fly for the first time later this month, with FAA certification of the model planned for Q3 2009.

FMI: www.hawkerbeechcraft.com