Flight International - 10 April 2018

BUSINESS AVIATION

fiightglobal.com 10-16 April 2018 | Flight International | 23

Demand springs

back for carriers

Data View P24

U

S engineering company and

aftermarket specialist Black-

hawk Modifications has received

a Canadian supplemental type

certificate (STC) for its XP67A en-

gine upgrade on the Beechcraft

King Air 350, and is preparing to

begin work on the first retrofit for

a local customer.

The upgrade replaces the

type’s 1,050shp (783kW) Pratt &

Whitney Canada PT6A-60A en-

gines with 1,200shp PT6A-67As,

which boost the 350’s maximum

cruise speed by up to 40kt

(74km/h). The XP67A-powered

twin can also climb from sea

level to 35,000ft in 18min in hot

conditions, says Blackhawk –

more than twice the rate of the

baseline model.

The upgrade package includes

five-blade composite propellers

from German manufacturer MT,

which Blackhawk says “delivers

significant reductions in noise

and vibration levels, while im-

proving overall performance”.

Jim Allmon, president and

chief executive of the Waco, Tex-

as-based company, calls the up-

graded model “the fastest King

Air on the planet”. ■

MODIFICATION

KATE SARSFIELD LONDON

Upgraded King

Air 350 secures

Canadian STC

Strengthening US economy is expected to support rise in demand

Gulfstream

B

usiness jets are set to outper-

form all other certificated gen-

eral aviation types in the USA

over the next 20 years, according

to a forecast published by the

Federal Aviation Administration.

It predicts that although the av-

erage annual growth rate for the

whole general aviation sector –

which includes traditional busi-

ness jets, turboprops, fixed-wing

piston aircraft and helicopters –

will remain flat in the period to

2038, the business jet fleet will

grow at an average rate of 2.2%. It

expects the overall fleet and busi-

ness jet totals to reach 214,100

and 22,200, respectively.

Turbine aircraft as a whole will

also perform better than piston-

powered types, the report says,

with the US inventory expected

to climb from 23,600 units in

2018 to more than 35,000 in 20

years – an average annual in-

crease of 2%.

Turboprops will grow by a

more modest 1.7% per year, with

the fleet forecast to total 12,600 in

2038, the report says.

The FAA’s upbeat prediction is

based on forecast growth in the

US economy and corporate prof-

its – key ingredients for a thriving

business aircraft market.

By contrast, the country’s fleet

of fixed-wing, certificated piston-

singles is expected to shrink over

the forecast period by 23,750 air-

craft – an average annual decline

of 0.9% – with the FAA predict-

ing an inventory of about 119,650

in 2038. The agency attributes

this gloomy outlook to “pilot de-

mographics, overall increasing

cost of aircraft ownership, cou-

pled with new aircraft deliveries

not keeping pace with retire-

ments of the ageing fleet”.

Hours flown by turbine busi-

ness aircraft are expected to rise

from 7.2 million in 2018 to 11.6

million in 2038 – or 2.4% a year

• thanks largely to the higher
  business jet utilisation. ■

OUTLOOK KATE SARSFIELD LONDON

Rising corporate profits will

drive fleet growth, FAA says

Twenty-year forecast expects jets to outperform turboprops, with piston singles in decline

MILESTONE KATE SARSFIELD LONDON

Second PC-24 arrives as first gets down to work

Pilatus Aircraft

P

ilatus Aircraft has delivered

its second PC-24 to its US

dealer and maintenance provider

Western Aircraft. The handover

of aircraft serial number 102 –

registration N224WA – comes as

the first production example en-

ters service with fractional own-

ership company PlaneSense.

Pilatus plans to deliver 23 of

the superlight business jets in

2018, from an order backlog of 84.

Western Aircraft says it has

seen strong demand for the

PC-24, “with more than a dozen

offers to buy the first aircraft”.

Despite this demand Western

plans to add aircraft 102 to its

own inventory, where it will be

used for ad hoc charter and, for

the coming year, as a company

demonstrator. “This gives us the

ability to show the PC-24 to exist-

ing order holders, and also to

prospective customers who want

to get in on the next block of air-

craft when Pilatus re-opens the

orderbook,” says Western’s vice-

president of sales and charter,

Phil Winters.

The manufacturer, headquar-

tered in Stans, has not disclosed a

timeframe for the next order

round – but it could be as early as

the fourth quarter of this year.

PlaneSense, one of Pilatus’s

largest customers, has an order

for six PC-24s, but is keen to ac-

quire additional aircraft to bolster

its fleet of 36 PC-12s. ■

Western will employ aircraft 102

to support demonstrations