2025 Turboprop Market Forecast: What’s Ahead for Pilatus PC-12 and King Air Owners?
Sales • Acquisition • Management of PC-12 & King Air Aircraft
The private turboprop sector is entering 2025 with cautious optimism—and a healthy dose of market realism. For Pilatus PC-12 and King Air owners, operators, and prospective buyers, the landscape is, frankly, getting interesting.
Post-COVID, inventory in these segments plummeted as demand surged and supply tightened. This imbalance pushed aircraft values to historic highs. Now, with economic headwinds continuing from 2024 into 2025, we’re seeing renewed pricing pressure—correcting inflated valuations and nudging the market toward more sustainable ground.
At TurbineProps, we live and breathe this market. Here's our take on what's moving the needle in 2025:
Market Correction Meets Resilient Demand
After two years of red-hot resale activity, the overall turboprop market is entering a natural correction phase. Pre-owned inventory levels have slowly crept up, softening some of the record-high asking prices we saw during the peak of the post-COVID boom.
But don’t mistake this for a downturn. Flight hour utilization is holding strong—particularly in fleet operations—and buyer sentiment remains upbeat, especially among corporate operators and high-net-worth individuals looking to avoid the hassle of airline travel.
Resale Trends & Residual Value
Time on market is lengthening slightly, but the Pilatus PC-12 and King Air 350 remain two of the most liquid and value-retaining platforms in the segment. Historical pricing benchmarks suggest that aircraft with strong maintenance pedigree, low cycles, and desirable avionics packages still move quickly—often within 90 to 120 days.
Expect a bifurcation: top-condition aircraft will command a premium, while mid-tier and high-cycle models may linger longer and face steeper negotiations.
Maintenance Cost Inflation & Operating Margins
Inflationary pressures continue to impact direct operating costs. Parts availability, labor shortages, and longer lead times are pushing up hourly maintenance costs. For operators who haven’t re-forecasted their cost-per-hour since 2022, it’s time for a recalibration.
This is especially critical for owners using their aircraft in charter programs, where operating margins are being squeezed despite elevated charter rates.
Weighing your options? Whether buying or selling, expert guidance can make all the difference. At TurbineProps, we specialize in aircraft acquisition and management, providing insights tailored to your mission, budget, and long-term strategy. Contact us today to explore which aircraft best suits your needs.
Manufacturer Backlogs & New Delivery Bottlenecks
Strong order books at Pilatus and Textron continue to reflect robust demand—but that demand is increasingly running into rising MSRPs, delivery delays, and persistent production bottlenecks. As a result, more buyers are shifting toward the pre-owned market, reinforcing values for low-time, well-equipped airframes.
Yet behind the demand curve lies a more complex production reality. Supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, and Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM)-specific setbacks continue to constrain output. Textron, for example, faced a production slowdown in 2024 due to a labor strike that further impacted King Air deliveries.
As of December 31, 2024, Pilatus reported a 25.5% increase in its backlog, reaching approximately $3.3 billion USD. While official wait times for new PC-12 NGX deliveries haven’t been published, historical data points to lead times exceeding two years—a timeline likely to persist amid strong demand and ongoing global supply constraints.
Textron Aviation, manufacturer of the King Air series, reported a $7.8 billion backlog as of January 2025—up $676 million from the previous year. Civilian buyers should expect extended delivery timelines as Textron prioritizes government contracts, including recent military orders from both the U.S. and Canada. With defense commitments taking precedence, private buyers may find themselves further down the queue.
These realities at both OEMs will likely continue to drive upward pricing pressure in the resale market as supply and demand work toward equilibrium.
Here’s a snapshot of OEM turboprop production across key platforms over the past five years:
Fleet Replacement & Buyer Sentiment
Many turboprop operators are approaching natural fleet replacement cycles, while others are looking to upgrade into more capable, modern platforms. While the latest-generation PC-12 NGX and King Air 360 remain high on buyers’ wish lists, elevated capital costs and tighter financing conditions are leading many to take a more cost-conscious approach.
Rather than acquiring new airframes, a growing number of owners are opting for a “refurb and retain” strategy—extending the life of existing aircraft through avionics upgrades, interior refurbishments, and performance-enhancing STCs. This trend is particularly pronounced among fleet operators and high-utilization owners seeking to optimize operational value without taking on the financial burden of a new acquisition.
According to GAMA data and industry reports:
The average age of the King Air fleet exceeds 18 years, with many aircraft in active service from the early 2000s.
For the PC-12, over 2,000 aircraft have been delivered since inception, with more than 70% still in active service—many approaching key mid-life inspection and upgrade milestones.
Refurbishment costs often range from $300,000 to $700,000, significantly less than the $6 to 7M+ required for a factory-new turboprop, making upgrade paths more financially attractive in a high-interest rate environment.
As long as financing remains constrained and lead times for new deliveries stay extended, expect the upgrade economy to thrive well into 2025 and beyond.
Supply Chain Disruptions and Tariff Implications
As global trade tensions continue into 2025, newly implemented or extended tariffs—particularly between the U.S., China, and parts of Europe—are beginning to affect the aerospace supply chain. Textron, manufacturer of the King Air series, and Pilatus, builder of the PC-12, both rely on international suppliers for critical components such as avionics, metal assemblies, and electronic systems. While Textron benefits from domestic final assembly in Kansas, the company still sources parts from abroad, leaving it partially exposed to cost increases and delays. Pilatus, with final assembly of PC-12s for the North American market occurring in Colorado, is even more sensitive to international trade pressures, given the Swiss-based manufacturing of its aircraft.
These supply chain pressures, combined with tariff-driven cost increases, could impact both new production rates and aftermarket support availability. For pre-owned aircraft—particularly high-demand models like the King Air 350i/360 and PC-12 NGX—this dynamic may reinforce upward pressure on resale values in the near term, as buyers hedge against longer lead times or rising prices for new deliveries. However, if macroeconomic conditions continue to soften, the market could also see buyers becoming more price-sensitive, prompting a potential moderation in resale prices despite ongoing supply constraints.
2025 Outlook: Stability with Select Opportunity
Turboprop aircraft remain a sweet spot in the business aviation landscape. They offer unmatched flexibility, short-field performance, and cost-efficiency—especially for operators flying 200–400 hours per year.
While we don’t expect a frenzy like 2021–2022, we do see a steady, more rational market in 2025. That makes it a great time to strategically acquire, upgrade, or optimize your turboprop operation. Market forecasts support this sentiment, with an expected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.47% through 2030, indicating sustained demand and investment in turboprops worldwide.
Thinking of Buying or Selling?
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