King Air 350 vs Pilatus PC-12: Turboprop Comparison

What's the difference between the King Air 350 and the Pilatus PC-12?

The King Air 350 is a twin-engine turboprop built around redundancy and payload; the PC-12 is a single-engine turboprop built around efficiency and cabin volume. The King Air 350i runs two Pratt & Whitney PT6A-60A engines producing 1,050 shp each, carries up to 11 passengers in a stretched cabin, and lists new around $8.1 million before Beechcraft ended production of the 350ER variant. The PC-12 NGX runs a single PT6E-67XP rated at 1,200 shp, seats up to 9 in a wider cross-section, and lists around $5.7 million. Both cruise in the 270–290 KTAS band and operate from 3,000-foot runways, but the philosophies — twin versus single, payload versus efficiency — drive almost every other decision point.

Where the King Air 350 wins

The King Air 350 wins on twin-engine redundancy, payload, and passenger count. Two engines matter for operators flying night IFR over mountains, water, or hostile terrain — it's why the Air Force, Navy, and dozens of governments still buy them as special-mission platforms. Useful load on the 350i is roughly 5,145 pounds versus about 3,650 on the PC-12 NGX, and the 350ER pushed maximum range to 2,692 nm with auxiliary tanks. The cabin runs 19.5 feet long versus 16.9 feet on the PC-12, which means a real ninth and tenth seat rather than a child-only jumpseat configuration.

The 350 also wins on charter utility. Part 135 operators can fill nine revenue seats in a club-four-plus-three-plus-two layout and charge $2,800–$3,400 per hour wet. Insurance underwriters write twin-turboprop hulls more aggressively than single-engine turbines for high-utilization commercial use, and the type's 50-year service history means parts, mechanics, and simulator slots are everywhere. If you're flying 600+ hours a year on Part 135 with passenger loads above six, the 350 is the obvious answer.

Where the Pilatus PC-12 wins

The PC-12 wins on operating economics, cabin cross-section, and resale. Direct operating cost runs roughly $900–$1,100 per hour versus $1,500–$1,800 on the King Air 350 — a single PT6 burning 66 gallons per hour beats two PT6s burning 110 combined, and the maintenance reserve math follows. Over 400 annual hours, that delta is $240,000 a year before you count the hot-section and overhaul cycles on a second engine.

The cabin is the other surprise. The PC-12 measures 5 feet wide and 4 feet 10 inches tall — wider than the King Air 350 and taller in usable headroom because the floor isn't intruded on by a wing carry-through in the same way. The aft cargo door, 53 inches wide and 52 inches tall, swallows skis, bikes, golf bags, and dogs that simply don't fit through a King Air airstair. Residual values reflect the demand: a 10-year-old PC-12 typically holds 65–70% of original value, while a comparable King Air 350 sits closer to 50–55%. PlaneSense and Surf Air built entire fleet businesses on the PC-12 for a reason.

Range also tilts to the Pilatus. The NGX flies 1,803 nm at long-range cruise versus 1,550 nm for the standard King Air 350i. New York to Aspen nonstop with four passengers is comfortable in a PC-12; the King Air 350 is doing it with a fuel stop unless you specced the ER.

Which one should you choose?

Choose the PC-12 if you're an owner-operator flying 200–500 hours a year with a typical load of four to six passengers and you value cabin comfort and trip economics. Choose the King Air 350 if you're flying charter, government, medevac, or any mission where two engines are a regulatory or insurance requirement, or if you regularly carry seven to nine passengers with bags.

The geographic question matters too. Operators based in the mountain West, Alaska, the Caribbean, or anywhere with long single-engine overwater or overterrain legs lean King Air for the obvious reason — engine-out drift-down calculations get a lot friendlier with two. Operators flying flat-country domestic missions, Midwest to Florida or Texas to the Northeast, almost universally pick the PC-12 because the redundancy argument weakens and the cost argument dominates.

Pilot supply is another variable charter operators underweight. Single-pilot PC-12 operations are legal and common, which cuts crew cost in half. The King Air 350 requires two pilots under Part 135 above 12,500 lbs MTOW, and the 350 sits at 15,000 lbs — there's no single-pilot exemption available. Over 500 hours a year, that second pilot's salary, training, and per diem is real money.

The verdict

For private owners flying their own missions, the PC-12 NGX wins for most buyers — better economics, better cabin, better resale, and the single-engine reliability argument is settled after 9 million-plus PT6 fleet hours. The breakpoint is roughly seven passengers: if your typical trip is six or fewer adults, buy the Pilatus. If it's seven or more, or if any leg routinely involves night IFR over mountains or open water, the King Air 350's second engine earns its keep.

For Part 135 charter operators, the King Air 350 still wins the fleet decision when the route structure supports nine-seat revenue loads, but the PC-12 has taken irreversible share in the four-to-six-seat charter market and on-demand regional networks. Fractional and membership programs have voted with their checkbooks — PlaneSense operates the largest PC-12 fleet in the world precisely because the unit economics work at scale in a way the King Air 350 cannot match.

Net call: the PC-12 NGX is the better airplane for the median private buyer in 2024. The King Air 350 remains the right airplane for a specific, defensible set of missions, but that set is narrower every year, and Textron's decision to wind down the 350ER while continuing the smaller 260 tells you where the market went.