Beechcraft will take on the single engine turbo-prop (SETP) market with a new aircraft based on the Hawker Premier jet fuselage (pictured) as part of an expanded Beechcraft brand.
The announcement was made by Hawker Beechcraft Executive VP, Shawn Vick, at the National Business Aircraft Association convention in Orlando, Florida overnight.
"We are focused on product development of the Beechcraft brand," he told Avweb. "We have announced that we have intentions to go from the present six airplanes to as many as ten
"We have done a lot of engineering work and advanced design work on this airplane [the SETP]. It would be based on the Premier fuselage, so you can have eight passengers in a double club [layout] or high density, which is as many as 11."
Vick said he expected the SETP to have a cruise speed of over 300 knots, and a service ceiling that he described as a "category winner". Given the current development relationships Beechcraft has, the most likely powerplant would be the P&W PT-6A turbo-prop.
An unpressurised utility version is also planned.
That will put Beechcraft in direct competition with the Pilatus PC-12, Cessna, who already has the Caravan and are said to be investigating a new low-wing SETP themselves, and the 10-seat Quest Kodiak and GippsAERO GA10.
As for the rest of the Beechcraft range, Vick hinted that the future may lie in engines that don't run on avgas. Beechcraft is working with Pratt & Whitney on piston engines that burn Jet-A, with an eye also on diesel and bio-diesel.