Beechcraft Corporation today announced at the 2013 Asian Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition (ABACE), that its worldwide fleet of Beechcraft King Air turboprops has topped 60 million flight hours. The legendary line of twin-engine turboprops is the best-selling business aircraft family in the world. More than 7,000 King Airs are operated in 127 countries around the world.

"The King Air line continues to lead its segment, representing 53 percent of the worldwide business turboprop market," said Shawn Vick, president & CEO of Beechcraft International Services Company. "Today's King Air gives operators the versatility to land anywhere and transport more passengers farther on less fuel - all in a comfortable, capable cabin. The value, durability and utility of our turboprops are unmatched by any other airplane in the world."

King Airs serve a variety of missions ranging from traditional transport of personnel and high-value cargo, to electronic and imagery surveillance, air ambulance, airway calibration, photographic mapping, training and weather modification.

Beechcraft has a 64 percent market share in the business turboprop segment: of a total 660 business turboprops in the Asia Pacific region, 421 aircraft are Beechcraft. King Air deliveries to Asia increased by 41 percent in the five years 2007-2011 compared to the previous five years 2002-2006.

"Millions of hours of flight experience represents a tremendous knowledge base that is fed back into Beechcraft," Vick said. "We greatly value the global experience of our customers and use it to drive major and minor product improvements into the King Air line. This means today's King Air models offer significantly higher performance and reliability than their predecessors and, with our renewed focus on Beechcraft products, we are looking forward to even more improvements to come."

The General Aviation Manufacturers Association 2012 year-end shipment of general aviation airplanes report shows that worldwide turboprop deliveries increased by 10.3 percent year-over-year, from 526 aircraft in 2011 to 580 in 2012. Beechcraft Corp. delivered 85 of its three current production King Air models to commercial customers in 2012 - 38 King Air 350i, 22 King Air 250 and 25 King Air C90GTx.

Contributed by Beechcraft Corporation