King Air

King Air
C90 King Air in Japanese military service
Role	Civil utility aircraft
Manufacturer	Beechcraft
First flight	May 1963
Introduction	9 September 1964
Status	Active service
Primary users	United States Navy Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia Philippine Navy
Produced	1964–present
Number built	3,100+
Unit cost	US$3,595,000 (C90GTi and C90GTx, 2016)
Developed from	Beechcraft Queen Air
Variants	Beechcraft Super King Air

The Beechcraft King Air family is part of a line of utility aircraft produced by Beechcraft. The King Air line comprises a number of twin-turboprop models that have been divided into two families; the Model 90 and 100 series developed in the 1960s are known as King Airs, while the later T-tail Model 200 and 300 series were originally marketed as Super King Airs, with "Super" being dropped by Beechcraft in 1996 (although it is still often used to differentiate the 200 and 300 series King Airs from their smaller stablemates).

The King Air was the first aircraft in its class and has been in continuous production since 1964. It has outsold all of its turboprop competitors combined. It now faces competition from jet aircraft such as the Embraer Phenom 100, Honda HA-420 HondaJet and Cessna Citation Mustang; as well as from newer turboprop aircraft including the Piaggio P180 Avanti, and single-engine Piper Malibu Meridian, Pilatus PC-12, and Socata TBM.

The Model 90 King Air was conceived as the Model 120 in 1961. In May 1963, Beechcraft began test flights of the proof-of-concept Model 87, a modified Queen Air with Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-6 engines. On 14 July, Beech announced a new type, and a month later began accepting orders for the "King Air", with deliveries to commence in Autumn 1964. After 10 months of test flying, in 1964 the Model 87 was delivered to the United States Army as the NU-8F. On 24 January, the first definitive prototype, by now designated Model 65-90 and also fitted with PT6A-6 engines, flew for the first time. The first production aircraft was delivered on October 8, and by the end of the month, 152 aircraft had been ordered; by year's end, seven had been built.