Beechcraft Corporation, a subsidiary of Textron Aviation Inc. celebrates two important King Air milestones this week at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh – the 50th year of King Air production, as well as the first anniversary of a record-breaking order from Wheels Up, the membership based private aviation company. The order from Wheels Up represents the largest order in history for general aviation turboprop aircraft, encompassing up to 105 King Air 350i aircraft and including maintenance, service and support.
Senior vice president of Turboprop Aircraft, Christi Tannahill said,
“With the King Air family of products on display at Oshkosh this week, it is fitting to recognize two major milestones that speak directly to the reputation of this great airplane. Flexible, reliable, efficient, high quality – these are characteristics that have defined the King Air through the years, and now Wheels Up members are experiencing these characteristics as well.”
Since the first flight in January 1964, nearly 7,200 King Air aircraft have been delivered, making it the best-selling business turboprop family in the world. Consistently improved and updated throughout the years, today’s King Airs cruise faster and have higher payloads than their predecessors, as well as navigate with the latest satellite and datalink technology – all while preserving the legendary smooth flying characteristics that King Airs are known for.
Kenny Dichter, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Wheels Up said,
“We celebrate Beechcraft and the King Air every day at Wheels Up and are thrilled to feature the King Air 350i as the foundation of our fleet. Our members love the King Air350i for its utility, luxury and efficiency, and we are proud to say that we’ve seen the amazingly positive response from our members that we had anticipated. We congratulate Beechcraft on the 50th anniversary of King Air production and look forward to growing our relationship over the next 50 years and beyond.”
To date, Beechcraft has delivered 19 of the initial order of 35 King Airs to Wheels Up, and Wheels Up holds options on another 70 aircraft. The Wheels Up King Air 350i aircraft have several special enhancements for Wheels Up members including state-of-the-art interiors, Wi-Fi connectivity and a luxury lavatory vanity. The Wheels Up agreement includes a comprehensive maintenance program from Beechcraft that includes service for airframe, engines, avionics and propellers; scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, labor, parts and consumables.
In 2014, the King Air maintains its leadership position in the global turboprop market, seeing an increase to 34 deliveries in the second quarter over 24 deliveries in the same period last year. Part of this success comes from special missions markets, where King Airs operate commercially and in all branches of the U.S. military, serve a variety of missions ranging from traditional passenger and cargo transport to electronic and imagery surveillance, air ambulance, airway calibration, photographic mapping, training and weather modification.
Tannahill said,
“As we celebrate aviation at Oshkosh, we’re excited also to celebrate the first 50 years of making history with the King Air. We salute our operators who have firmly established this aircraft as an industry icon, and we salute the employees whose hard work over the decades remains a cornerstone of aviation.”
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About Textron Aviation Inc.
Textron Aviation Inc. is the leading general aviation authority and home to the iconic Beechcraft, Cessna and Hawker brands, which account for more than half of all general aviation aircraft flying. The Textron Aviation companies include Cessna Aircraft Company and Beechcraft Corporation, bringing together decades of unmatched experience in designing, building and supporting airplanes. It provides the most versatile and comprehensive general aviation product portfolio in the world through five principal lines of business: business jets, general aviation and special mission turboprop aircraft, high performance piston aircraft, military trainer and defense aircraft, and a complete global customer service organization. Its broad range of products include such best-selling aircraft as Citation and Hawker business jets, King Air and Caravan turboprops and T-6 military trainer aircraft, all of which are backed by the industry’s largest global service network.
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About Textron Inc.
Textron Inc. is a multi-industry company that leverages its global network of aircraft, defense, industrial and finance businesses to provide customers with innovative solutions and services. Textron is known around the world for its powerful brands such as Bell Helicopter, Cessna, Beechcraft, Hawker, Jacobsen, Kautex, Lycoming, E-Z-GO, Greenlee, and Textron Systems.
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About Wheels Up
Wheels Up is a revolutionary membership-based private aviation company that greatly reduces the upfront investment needed to fly privately. Created and led by Kenny Dichter, the Founder of Marquis Jet and original innovator of the 25-hour fractional jet card, Wheels Up has identified a need for one company to offer a total private aviation solution. With a modest initiation fee and reasonable annual dues, Wheels Up offers members “mission-appropriate” aircraft, ranging from the King Air 350i to the Global 6000, through partnerships with industry leaders such as Beechcraft, Cessna, Jet Aviation, JetSuite, HeliFlite and VistaJet. Wheels Up is developing proprietary cutting-edge booking and rideshare applications, and provides members with unmatched accessibility, flexibility, and the finest personalized service. With an 8,760-hour (referencing the number of hours in a year) culture, Wheels Up membership includes Wheels Down, the ultimate in client entertaining engaging members through exclusive events and opportunities to meet luminaries from the worlds of entertainment, sports, politics and business.
Wheels Up acts as agent for the Wheels Up members, and is not the operator of the program aircraft; FAA licensed and DOT registered air carriers participating in the program will exercise full operational control of the program aircraft. Any aircraft owned or leased by Wheels Up are dry leased to the operating air carrier to facilitate operations by that carrier.
Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements which may project revenues or describe strategies, goals, outlook or other non-historical matters; these statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, changes in aircraft delivery schedules or cancellations or deferrals of orders and difficult conditions in the financial markets which may adversely impact our customers’ ability to fund or finance purchases of our products; changes in government regulations or policies on the export and import of our products; volatility in the global economy or changes in worldwide political conditions that adversely impact demand for our products; performance issues with key suppliers or subcontractors; and continued demand softness or volatility in the markets in which we do business.