US fractional ownership company PlaneSense is poised to take delivery of its third Nextant 400XTi business jet in less than a year, to cater for growing demand for the light twin-engined type from shareowners of its 34-strong fleet of Pilatus PC-12NGs.
PlaneSense introduced the 400XTi into its all single-engined turboprop line-up in June 2015 as an offering to customers looking to fly journeys of more than 500nm (925km). “It’s faster than the PC-12NG and shaves time off those long legs,” says George Antoniadis, president and chief executive of the Portsmouth, New Hampshire–based company, which he founded in 1995.
“The XTi is proving very popular. We expect to record around 1,200h a year on each aircraft and hope to take delivery of a fourth unit by the end of the 2016,” he adds.
PlaneSense
The XTi is not expected to be a long-term fixture in the PlaneSense fleet, however. It will eventually be replaced by Pilatus’s in-development light business jet, the PC-24, for which PlaneSense is the launch customer. “Our current plan is to keep the XTis until we have built up a core fleet of PC-24s,” says Antoniadis. The company has an initial order for six aircraft, with deliveries set to begin in 2017. “We hope to have all six PC-24s in the fleet by 2020,” he adds.
Meanwhile, PlaneSense is continuing to grow its PC-12NG inventory, with two more aircraft set to arrive this year. “We are the largest commercial operator of the type in the world,” says Antoniadis. “We have purchased 54 aircraft in the last 21 years.”
Source: Flight International
