Nextant Aerospace has secured US certification for the G90XT, the company’s remanufactured Beechcraft King Air C90. Deliveries of the aircraft are planned for next year.
“Just two years ago, we announced the launch of the G90XT program,” explained Jay Heublein, Executive Vice President for Nextant. “Our goal was to deliver an entry level, twin-engine turboprop that offered the best combination of overall value, performance, and cabin comfort in the category. We specifically focused on creating the safest single-pilot operating platform in the industry, and the G90XT has exceeded our expectations. I’m very appreciative of our team members who worked on the program and the great group of partners who collaborated on this project with Nextant. Together we have created an exceptional aircraft that was delivered in a timely manner and on budget.”
The G90XT sports the General Electric H75 engine and a fully integrated flight deck based on the Garmin G1000 avionics suite. According to the company, the GE engine boosts a 10% improvement in specific fuel consumption. Additionally, the engine has numerous safety features in place to enhance single-pilot operations. This includes digitally controlled, single-lever power control technology. The tech lowers pilot work load and offers enhanced engine protection.
“Our approach with the G90XT was aligned with our first offering, the 400XTi,” Mr. Heublein elaborated. “Through our unique remanufacturing process, we take a good aircraft and make it a great one. By working with actual operators of the aircraft, we systematically identified potential areas of improvement and delivered solutions to address those items. The integration of an entirely new environmental cooling system which moves 300% more air in the cabin was created in direct response to operator feedback that implied the aircraft needed better ground cooling capacity.”
The G90XT will be assembled at the Nextant facility in Cleveland, Ohio with plans to enter serialized production in 2016.
(We were given a tour of the experimental version of the G90XT at Oshkosh 2015: view here)