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.