2025 FLYING Buyers Guide: Turboprops

As with other manufacturers, Daher fought supply chain issues for its established aircraft line while also bringing the new Kodiak 900 into production during the second half of 2023 (delivering just one in the third quarter) after it was certificated in 2022. Things ramped up in 2024 for the efficient load-hauler with eight delivered in the first three quarters. Seven Kodiak 100s also went to buyers. We reviewed the Kodiak 900 in Issue 934/February 2023 of FLYING and were impressed by the performance generated by the horsepower increase over the Kodiak 100, although the Kodiak 900 is a significantly different and more efficient airframe with the belly cargo compartment a seamless part of the fuselage. The interior can be arranged in virtually any fashion a user desires, with a maximum of 10 seats. All but the front left can be removed and stowed in the cargo pod to make a quick-change cargo or passenger hauler. The over 200-knot cruise is among the fastest of the fixed-gear turboprops, and its short field capabilities make it as equally home in the backcountry as it is at a high-density metropolitan airport.

At the other end of the Daher line, its hot rod TBM 960 (reviewed in the Q3 2022 issue) is capable of a max cruise speed of 330 knots and has also proven to be steadily popular. In the first three quarters of 2023, 34 were delivered (along with one last model 910). The numbers bumped up to 37 TBM 960s during the same time in 2024. Its Garmin G3000 avionics suite includes Autoland, which Daher refers to as HomeSafe, as well as dual-channel FADEC, which the engine manufacturer calls an engine and propeller electronic control system (EPECS) that greatly simplifies engine operation, reducing pilot workload. We learned that half of the sales of new TBMs over the last year were to current owners of TBMs, indicating a strong product loyalty.

Showing its optimism for the future market, Daher vice president Michel Adam de Villiers told us that Daher is about to break ground for a new factory for its TBM 960 in Stuart, Florida. The airplanes are currently assembled in France and flown to the U.S. for interior, paint, and final assembly. 

We doubt that there’s anywhere in the world that hasn’t been visited by the jack-of-all-trades, single-engine turboprop from Pilatus, the PC-12. Sales decreased slightly from the first three quarters of 2023, from 66 to 58 in the same time in 2024. FLYING has reviewed the PC-12 a number of times since 2008 and watched as it has steadily gained capabilities, particularly with avionics and horsepower, culminating in the NGX. The cabin size is legendary, as are the uses to which it has been put worldwide, with its cavernous cabin baggage door allowing for hauling nearly anything imaginable, a 285-knot max cruise speed, and the ability to go into unimproved airstrips. The only single-engine turbine that can carry more payload is the Cessna 208 Caravan and it’s 100 knots slower.

With a max cruise speed within measurement error of the TBM 960, the 333-knot Epic E1000 GX offers a larger cabin, higher horsepower (1,200 versus 850), more payload, and a stout carbon-fiber fuselage that has slowly been gaining market recognition and acceptance. It won FLYING’s Innovation Award in 2020 and is reviewed in the August 2020 issue. 

Its maximum operating altitude is 34,000 feet, high for a single-engine turboprop, and with big power up front, it will get there in less than 20 minutes from sea level. Only 10 were built in the first three quarters of 2023, while production nearly doubled in the same time in 2024, with 18 rolling out of the production hangar. 

Turning over to Textron Aviation (Cessna and Beechcraft), it was surprising to note that its turboprop sales (single engine and multiengine) for the first three quarters of 2024 (78) were substantially fewer than the same time in 2023 (109). The big drop occurred with the 208B Grand Caravan EX, decreasing from 48 to 27. There was also a drop in sales for the brand-new, capable freight hauler model 408 from 14 to 4. While FLYING has not yet reviewed the Sky Courier, we have closely followed its development and capabilities. 

As for the twin-engine side of the turboprop market, Beechcraft continues to have a lock, with sales staying stable when comparing the first three quarters of 2023 and 2024. There were 41 King Airs sold during that time in 2023 and 40 in 2024. Sales were about even between the King Air 260 and 360 ER. We reviewed the 320-knot, 11-seat King Air 360 ER in our August 2021 issue and noted the protection modes offered by autothrottles, pleasant handling, and upscale interior. 

This feature first appeared in the March Issue 956 of the FLYING print edition.