Textron Aviation Wins FAA Certification on King Air 260

Textron Aviation has gained FAA certification on the King Air 260, as it closes down production of two key models in Cessna and Beechcraft history—the Citation Sovereign+ and the King Air C90GTx.

Flying contacted Textron Aviation for its official comment on the changes: “Textron Aviation continually aligns its product offerings with current and future market demand and has ended production of the Cessna Citation Sovereign+ midsize jet and the Beechcraft King Air C90GTx turboprop,” said a company spokesperson. “Both aircraft have been valued members of legendary product lineups for decades. With the recent certification of the super-midsize Cessna Citation Longitude business jet and continued success and proven reliability of the Cessna Citation Latitude midsize business jet, we are taking the opportunity to minimize overlap within this customer segment.”

When it first debuted in 1998, the Sovereign filled a niche in the marketplace “that had been previously unrecognized,” according to author Jeffrey L. Rodengen in The Legend of Cessna. “In an interview, [then-Cessna chairman Russ] Meyer said it occurred to a number of people that customers of the [Citation] Excel, which received certification in April 1998, would eventually require a larger aircraft in the midsize price category. ‘We asked ourselves, “Why are we ignoring a market where there are almost 1,800 midsize operators?” In addition, three or four years from now, a lot of Excel customers will be looking for a larger airplane.’” Textron Aviation had delivered a total of 349 Sovereigns by its end of production in 2013, and 94 Sovereign+ models through the end of 2020.

Sovereign pilots appreciated the Model 680′s well-placed positioning in the midsize-jet segment. “It does everything pretty well,” said Bert Hutchison, who currently flies for a corporate operator in the Midwest with two of the jets in its fleet. “It was well-designed when it came into the market space for user-friendliness—it’s very pilot-intuitive and easy to learn within a couple of flights. It has great performance for the size of airplane—runway performance, useful load. It’s really good at doing a lot of basic things that customers wanted out of an airplane. That’s why they took it and made a Latitude out of it.”

Similarly, the C90 model run has come to its denouement nearly 50 years since the C-series debuted, and in parallel with new models recently certified—specifically the King Air 260, which achieved that goal on March 10, 2021. According to Textron Aviation: “The Beechcraft King Air product lineup…recently introduced the newly upgraded King Air 260 and King Air 360 turboprops to the market. The King Air C90 series aircraft, which celebrated its first delivery in 1971, will forever be remembered as the pioneer of the King Air family of products.” Textron Aviation had delivered approximately 1,643 of the C90 series through Q4 2020.

The King Air 260 builds on the 200 series with a host of updates—plus a maximum range of 1,720 nm and a max cruise speed of 310 ktas. On the flight deck, the integration of the Innovative Solutions & Support ThrustSense autothrottle—a 2021 Flying Editors’ Choice Award winning design—helps pilots during a critical phase of flight by automatically managing engine power during takeoff and initial climb, as well as throughout the remainder of the in-flight segments. The digital cabin pressure controller found on the new King Air 360 is also installed on the 260, as an additional workload-relieving system.

Textron Aviation offered an assurance to current operators of both aircraft series: “Citation Sovereign and Sovereign+ customers, as well as King Air C90 customers, will continue to receive exceptional service and support through the company’s extensive global service center network, as well as our highly experienced Product and Parts Support teams.”